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Size, 5%x8 inches; 

600 Pages 

115 Full Page Plat-s 

Including a Series of 

Cartoons by 

Horner C Davenport 



Americans National Game 
By A, G. SPALDING 

Price, $2.00 Net 

A book of 600 pages, profusely illustrated 
with over 100 full page engravings, and hav- 
ing sixteen forceful cartoons by Homer C. 
Davenport, the famous American artist. 

No man in America is better equipped 
to write on all the varied phases of the Na- 
tional Game than is A. G. Spalding. His 
observation and experience began when the 
game was young. He gained fame as a 
pitcher forty years ago, winning a record as 
player that has never yet been equalled. 
He was associated with the management of 
the pastime through trying years of struggle 
against prevailing evils. He opposed the 
gamblers ; he fought to eradicate 
drunkenness ; he urged and intro- 
duced new and higher ideals for 
the sport ; he was quick to see thaj 
ball playing and the business man- 
agement of clubs, at the same time 
and by the same men, were imprac- 
ticable ; he knew that ball players 
might be quite competent as magnates, but not while playing 
the game ; he was in the forefront of the fight against syndi- 
cating Base Ball and making of a Nation's pastime a sordid 
Trust; he was the pioneer to lead competing American 
Base Ball teams to a foreign land ; he took two champion 
teams to Great Britain in 1 874, and two others on a tour of 
the world in 1 888-9 ; he was present at the birth of the 
National League, and has done as much as any living 
American to uphold and prolong the life of this great pioneer 
Base Ball organization. 

When A. G. Spalding talks about America's National 
Game he speaks by authority of that he does know, because 




Ke has been in the councils of the management whenever 
there have been times of strenuous endeavor to purge it 
from abuses and keep it clean for the people of America 
— young and old 

In this work Mr. Spalding, after explaining the causes 
that led him into the undertaking, begins with the inception 
of the sport ; shows how it developed, by natural stages 
from a boy with a ball to eighteen men, ball, bats and bases ; 
gives credit for the first scientific application of system to 
the playing of the game to Abner Doubleday, of Coopers- 
town, N. Y.; treats of the first Base Ball club ; shows how 
rowdyism terrorized the sport in its early days ; how gam- 
bling and drunkenness brought the pastime into disfavor 
with the masses, and how early organizations were unable 
to control the evils that insidiously crept in. He then 
draws a series of very forceful pictures of the struggle to 
eradicate gambling, drunkenness and kindred evils, and shows 
how the efforts of strong men accomplished the salvation of 
the great American game and placed it in the position it occu- 
pies to-day — the most popular outdoor pastime in the world. 

Interspersed throughout this interesting book are remin- 
iscences of Mr. Spalding's own personal observations and 
experiences in the game as player, manager and magnate, 
covering a period of many years. Some of these stories 
deal with events of great import to Base Ball, and others 
have to do with personal acts and characteristics of players 
prominent in the game in earlier days — old time favorites 
like Harry and George Wright, A. C. Anson, Mike Kelly, 
Billy Sunday and others. 

This book should be in the library of every father in 
the land, for it shows how his boy may be built up physically 
and morally through a high-class pastime. It should be in 
the hands of every lad in America, for it demonstrates the 
possibilities to American youth of rising to heights of eminent 
material success through a determined adherence to things 
that make for the upbuilding of character in organizations as 
well as of men. 

Mailed postpaid on receipt of price by any Spalding store 
(see list on inside front cover), or by the publishers, 

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SPALDING ATHLETIC LIBRARY 



CL 



Giving the Titles of all Spalding Athletic Library Books now ^->^ 
^ in print, grouped for ready reference c" - ^ 



No SPALDING OFFICIAL ANNUALS 



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lA 
IC 
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7 Spalding'! 
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Official Base Ball Guide 
Official Base Ball Record 
Official College Base Ball Annual 
Official Foot Ball Guide 
Official Soccer Foot Ball Guide 
Official Lawn Tennis Annual 
Official Ice Hockey Guide 
Official Basket Ball Guide 
Official Women's Basket Ball Guid< 
Official Lacrosse Guide 
Official Indoor Base Ball Guide 
Official Athletic Rules 



Group 

No. 1 



Base Ball 



No. lA 
No. ic 
No. 202 
No. 223 
No. 232 
No. 230 
No. 229 
No. 225 
No. 226 
No. 227 
No. 228 
No. 224 

r 



Spalding's Official Base Ball 

Guide. 
Official Base Ball Record. 
College Base Ball Annual. 
How to Play Base Ball. 
How to Bat. 
How to Run Bases. 
How to Pitch. 
How to Catch. 
How to Play First Base. 
How to Play Second Base. 
How to Play Third Base. 
How to Play Shortstop. 
How to Play the Outfield. 
How to Organize a Base Ball 
League. [Club. 

How to Organize a Base Ball 
How to Manage a Base Ball 

Club. 
How to Train a Base Ball Team 
How to Captain a Base Ball 
How to Umpire a Game. [Team 
^ Technical Base Ball Terms. 
No. 219 Ready Reckoner of Base Ball 

Percentages. 
No. 350 How to Score. 

BASE BALL AUXILIARIES 
No. 355 Minor League Base Ball Guide 
No. 356 Official Book National League 

of Prof. Base Ball Clubs. 
No. 340 Official Handbook National 
Playground Ball Assn. 



Foot Ball 



No. 



231 



Group II. 



No.2 Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide 
No. 344 A Digest of the Foot Ball Rules 

How to Play Foot Ball. 

Spalding's Official Soccer Foot 
Ball Guide. 

How to Play Soccer. 

How to Play Rugby. 



No. 324 
No. 2a 



No. 286 
No. 335 



FOOT BALL AUXILIARY 
No, 351 Official Rugby Foot Ball Guide 

Group IV. Lawn Tennis 

No. 4 Spalding's Official Lawn Ten- 
nis Annual. 

No. 157 How to Play Lawn Tennis. 

No. 354 Official Handbook National 
Squash Tennis Association. 



Group VI. 



Hochey 



No. 



Spalding's Official Ice Hockey 

Guide. 
How to Play Ice Hockey, 
Field Hockey. 
Ring Hockey. 
(Lawn Hockey. 
No. 188 ■< Parlor Hockey. 
(Garden Hockey. 



No. 304 

No. 154 
No. 180 



Group VII. 



Dasher Ball 



No. 7 Spalding's Official Basket 

Ball Guide. 
No. 7a Spalding's Official Women's 

Basket Ball Guide. 
No. 193 How to Play Basket Ball. 

BASKET BALL AUXILIARY 

No. 353 Official Collegiate Basket Ball 
Handbook. 

Group VIII. Lacrosse 

No. 8 Spalding's Official Lacrosse Guide 
No. 201 How to Play Lacrosse. 

Group IX. Indoor Base Ball 

No. 9 Spalding's Official Indoor Base 
Ball Guide. 

Group X. Polo 

No. 129 Water Polo. 
No. 199 Equestrian Polo. 



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Group \l. Miscellaneous Games 

No. 248 Archery. 
No. 138 Croquet. 
No. 271 Roque. 

(Racquets. 
No. 194 ^Squash-Racquets. 

(Court Tennis. 
No. 13 Hand Ball. 
No. 167 Quoits. 
No. 170 Push Ball. 
No. 14 Curling. 
No. 207 Lawn Bowls. 
No. 188 Lawn Games. 
No. 189 Children's Games. 
No. 341 How to Bowl. 

Group XII. Arnietics 

No. 12a Spalding's Official Athletic 
No. 27 College Athletics. iRules. 

No. 182 All Around Athletics. 
No. 156 Athletes' Guide. 
No. 87 Athletic Primer. 
No. 273 Olympic GamesatAthens,1906 
No. 252 How to Sprint. 
No. 255 How to Run 100 Yards. 
No. 174 Distance and Cross Country 
Running. [Thrower. 

No. 259 How to Become a Weight 
No. 55 Official Sporting Rules. 
No. 246 Athletic Training for School- 
No. 317 Marathon Running. [boys. 
No. 331 Schoolyard Athletics. 
No. 342 Walking for Health and Com- 
petition. 
ATHLETIC AUXILIARIES 
No. 357 Intercollegiate Official Hand- 
No. 314 Girls' Athletics. [book. 
No. 302 Y. M. C. A. Official Handbook. 
No.313 Public Schools Athletic 
League Official Handbook. 
No. 308 Official Handbook New York 

Interscholastic A. A. 
No. 347 Official Handbook P. S. A. L. 
of San Francisco. 

rpnnn Yiii Atnietlc 

croup XIII. Accompilsnments 

No. 177 How to Swim. 

No. 296 Speed Swimming. 

No, 128 How to Row. 

No. 209 How to Become a Skater. 

No. 178 How to Train for Bicycling. 

No. 23 Canoeing. 

No. 282 Roller Skating Guide. 



Group XIV. 



Manly Sporis 

( By Breck.) 



No. 18 Fencing. 

No. 162 Boxing. 

No. 165 Fencing. ( By Senac.) 

No. 140 Wrestling. 

No. 236 How to Wrestle. 

No. 102 Ground Tumbling 

No. 233 JiuJitsu. 

No. 166 How to Swing Indian Clubs. 

No. 200 Dumb Bell Exercises. 

No. 143 Indian Clubs and Dumb Bells. 

No. 262 Medicine Ball Exercises. 

No. 29 Pulley Weight Exercises. 

No. 191 How to Punch the Bag. 

No. 289 Tumbling for Amateurs. 

No. 326 Professional Wrestling. 



Group XV. 



Gymnastics 



No. 104 Grading of Gymnastic Exer- 
cises. [Dumb Bell Drills. 

No. 214 Graded Cali st hen ics and 

No. 254 Barnjum Bar Bell Drill. [Games 

No. 158 Indoor and Outdoor Gymnastic 

No. 124 How to Become a Gymnast. 

No. 287 Fancy Dumb Bell and March- 
ing Drills. 

No. 327 Pyramid Building Without 
Apparatus. 

No. 328 Exercises on the Parallel Bars. 

No. 329 Pyramid Building with 
Wands, Chairs and Ladders. 
GYMNASTIC AUXILIARY 

No. 345 Official Handbook I. C. A. A. 
Gymnasts of America. 



Group 

No. 161 

No. 149 

No. 208 
No. 185 

No. 213 
No. 238 
No. 234 
No. 261 
No. 285 

No. 288 
No. 290 
No. 325 
No. 330 



XVI. 



Physical culture 



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Men. 
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Physical Education and Hy- 
Hints on Health. [giene. 

285 Health Answers. 
Muscle Building. 
School Tacticsand Maze Run- 
Tensing Exercises. [ning. 
Health by Muscular Gym- 
nastics. 
Indigestion Treated by Gym- 
Get Well; Keep Well, [nasties. 
Twenty-Minute Exercises. 
Physical Training for the 
School and Class Room. 
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Spalding ''Red Cover" Series of Athfefic Handbooks 

No. IR. Spalding's Official Athletic Almanac Price 25c. 

No. 2R. Strokes and Science of Lawn Tennis Price 25c. 

No. 3R. Spalding's Official Golf Guide Price 25c 

No. 4R. How to Play Golf Price 25c. 

No. 5R. Spalding's Official Cricket Guide Price 25c. 

No. 6R. Cricket and How to Play it Price 25c. 

No. 7R. Physical Training Simplified Price 25c. 

No. 8R. The Art of Skating. , Price 25c. 

No. 9R. How to Live 100 Years Price 25c. 

No. lOR. Single Stick Drill Price 25c. 



&i^^»*' 




Ja,uies .Braid,_ Opeii Chauipion. 











MOW TO PLAY 

BY 

JAMES BRAID 

Open Champion of Great Britain 
1905, 1906, 1908 and 1910 

AND 

HARRY VARDON 

Open Champion of Great Britain 
1896, 1898, 1899 and 1903 


SPALDING'S 
ATHLETIC 
LIBRARY 
Group V. 
No. 276 




Published by 
AMERICAN SPORTS PUBUSHING C( 
21 Warren Street. New York 


). 



.<^'^ 



\ 









ANNOUNCEMENT 



In this issue of Spalding's Athletic Library, we publish with 
the consent of the British Sports Publishing Company, Ltd., of 
London, England, their copyrighted book, "Golf Guide and How 
to Play Golf," by James Braid, Open Champion of 1905, 1906, 
1908 and 1910. Braid's book has had an enormous sale through- 
out Great Britain and on the Continent, and is admitted to be by 
golf experts the best book of its kind ever published. 

"Golfing," the leading British publication on the game of 
^golf, says : 

" Simply and straightforwardly written, Champion Braid's book 
contains more solid and useful information to the square inch 
than you will find in nine out of ten treatises on golf brought out 
at a much higher price. Though Braid himself would probably 
be the first man to disclaim any literary style for his little effort, 
the style is there, nevertheless, direct, honest, and to the point, 
like the game of golf played by the man who wrote it. ■'^ * * It 
is a plain and lucid book of practical instructions, penned without 
a suggestion of literary frills, and illustrated with some capital 
photographs and diagrams." 

America'N' Sports Publishing Co. 



CI.A311)035 



'^\ 



CONTENTS 



I. Beginners' Wrong Ideas 

II. Method of Tuition 

III. Choosing the Clubs . 

IV. How to Grip the Club . 

V. Stance and Address in Driving 

VI. The Upward Swing in Driving 

VII. The Top of the Swing 

VIII. The Downward Swing . 

IX. Finishing the Stroke 

X. The Long Ball . 

XI. Pulling and Slicing . 

XII. Playing in a Wind 

XIII. Brassey Play . 

XIV. Play with Iron Clubs . 
XV. Cleek Shots . 

XVI. The Iron . . . . 

XVII. The Running-up S"..:; 

XVIII. The Mashie 

XIX. The Niblick . 
XX. Putting . 

XXI. Playing the Round . 



PAGE 


6 


II 


14 


19 


31 


1^1 


4-2 


44 


47 


53 


57 


61 


. 64 


69 


76 


81 


. 85 


89 


95 


131 



100 



Spalding's Athletic Library, 



1. 

BEGINNERS' WRONG IDEAS. 

When a man first decides that he will devote himself to the 
game of golf he has generally something to unlearn at the very 
outset, even though he has never attempted to strike a ball 
with a driver in his life. In nine cases out of ten he must 
abandon all his preconceived notions about the game. Hi 
must realise that so far from being the easy thing to play that 
it seems when one watches a capable exponent driving long 
balls and placing short shots quite near to the hole almost 
every time, it is an exceedingly difficult thing, and that pro- 
ficiency, even in the case of the most athletic and adaptable 
persons, is onl\^ to be acquired as the result of years of the 
most patient and painstaking practice and of the most careful 
thought and study of the scientific side of the game. No 
game demands more scientific accuracy than golf, and there 
is no game in which shots that are not well played more 
surely meet with their just punishment. In the reverse there 
is no game in which small degrees of skill count more regu- 
larly in favour of the man who possesses them. The things 
that look easiest in golf are generally the hardest, and it some- 
times takes a man years to learn properly how to raise his 
club upwards in the swing back before striking the ball— in 
fact some players go through a lifetime without acquiring the 
proper method, and their game throughout suffers accordingly. 



Spalding^s Athletic Library. 5 

If the beginner can be brought to reahse this simple truth 
about the difficulty of the game, and of the necessity of taking 
it most seriously, he will have gained a great deal. One may 
then tell him that despite all the drudgery of painstaking 
practice that he will have to undergo, and the thousands of 
severe disappointments that he must inevitably endure, it does 
not follow that all the period of his studentship will be dull 
and uninteresting. It will be far from that. The game will 
interest him and fascinate him almost as much after his first 
few lessons as it will do in many after-years. He will find 
that it is its disappointments and difficulties that make it a 
game so well worth the playing ; and that, while he will be 
intensely aggravated on some days because he can do nothing 
right and because it seems that he has forgotten everything 
that he had learned in months before, he will be corre- 
spondingly elated when the skill that he has acquired comes 
back to him, as it always does, with a little bit added to it 
as the reward of his persistence. 

The golfer finds himself so constantly and keenly ambitious 
as does the player of no other game. He may be indifferent 
as to how well or badly he plays other games in which he con- 
stantly takes part so long as he can play them in such a manner 
as " not to make a fool of himself," as he would put it, and when 
he first thinks he will take up golf that may be his attitude 
towards it, and he may say to himself that if he gets the 
exercise and the fresh air that is all that he wants. But he 
will speedily find, as every one before him has done, that in 
spite of himself he will soon be yearning for more and more 
skill, and that never throughout his golfing life will he ever 
be satisfied. The men who have won championships still 



6 Spaldmg's Athletic Library, 

realise their weaknesses and long for more skill just as much 
as the beginner who even finds it to be a matter of difficulty 
to hit the ball at all when taking a full swing at it with a 
driver. 

As I have just said, the man wlio has brought himself 
under .advice to this attitiKle towards the game at the outset 
of his career on the links will have gained something, and he 
will have done it in two wa\'s. He will come to understand 
that it would be rather too dangerous for him to try to learn 
the game alone and unaided by an\^ competent teacher, as 
do many grown-up people, who ought to know better. Un- 
directed in their choice they buy a few clubs for themselves, 
and with very little notion about how to address and hit the 
ball they go out on to the links, and flounder about for 
months with very little improvement in their play, and with 
far less satisfaction to themselves than if they were making 
some kind of progress or were conscious that even now and 
again they made a shot properly. In due course they 
challenge other players to have matches with them, and 
when these engagements are confined to opponents who have 
learned their game in the same way all is well ; but nothing 
is more annoying to a careful and thorough golfer who goes 
about his golf in the right way and takes some sort of a 
pride in it, than to be matched with a man who is palpably 
ignorant of the most elementary principles of the game, 
though he would not admit it ; and he takes care that, so far 
as he has control over such matters, he will avoid such a 
match in the future. In his after-life this haphazard player, 
who taught himself and makes it his boast that he had only 
one lesson in his life, will probably come to wish that he had 



Spalding's Athletic Library. y 

nad more and that he had built his game on a sound founda- 
tion. These regrets are inevitable. The golf world is over- 
populated with persons who wish they had commenced to 
play in the proper way. 

Consequently the wise man who has respect for the game 
before he plays it will take as much advice and coaching as 
he can get, and he will be content to begin in the most 
elementary way, and will not mind any amount of drudgery 
in the way of practising swings and particular shots before he 
tries to make a complete round of the links. Nothing is more 
important than this complete practice of the smallest details 
at the very beginning, for it is generally the case that habits 
made at this stage, whether good or bad, will keep to the 
player for long afterwards, if not for ever. Therefore it is of 
the utmost importance that the style that he cultivates now 
should be as good and correct as possible. 

There is a variety of other preconceived fancies of which 
the beginner will do well to get rid before he goes to the 
hnks for the first time. A clear understanding of the prin- 
ciples involved in their rejection will help him considerably. 
For example, in most other games that one can call to mind 
it is the case that the harder the ball is struck the farther 
will it travel. This is not nearly such a general principle in 
golf. If the stroke is absolutely accurate in every respect, 
and it is a plain, simple drive that is being attempted, then, 
no doubt, the more power that is put into the drive, if it is 
put in at the right time and in the right way, the farther will 
the ball travel. But except in the case of players of many 
years' experience and of great proficiency it seldom happens 
that the driving strokes, which are very complicated, are 



8 Spalding's Athletic Library, 

made so accurately, and when they are not it is the most dan- 
gerous thing to hit hard with all one's strength at a ball, or 
to "press" as it is called. Nobody who has not had to deal 
with one can imagine what a wayward thing is a golf ball. 
It has capacities that nobody would suspect or even beheve 
until after experience of them, and it has especially an enor- 
mous one for going in a different direction from that in 
which the stroke was aimed and in which it was desired to 
despatch the ball. Sometimes it is to the right and some- 
times to the left, and in either of these cases it will happen 
that the harder the ball is hit the shorter will be the distance 
that it will travel in the desired line. Therefore let the 
beginner realise that this is not a game for the display of his 
strength, and even after he has acquired great proficiency — 
asWe hope he will — he will find that the gentler stroke per- 
fectly made and timed will pay quite as well for all practical 
purposes as the one that was made with all the force at the 
disposal of the player — in fact, in the course of a long and 
hard match it will probably pay much better. Often enough 
it will get the ball farther down the course, and it will be 
infinitely more reliable. In saying this I must not be under- 
stood to mean that the very longest driving, which, is 
undoubtedly useful and necessary if one covets the high 
honours of golf, is not to be obtained without the application 
of considerable physical strength ; but not one young player 
in a hundred can apply that strength with safety to his game, 
and he must wait for length m his driving to come of its 
own accord, as it will do if it ever comes, meanwhile being 
content with the comparatively gentle game which is so sure. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. g 

VARIETY OF THE GAME. 

».iiothti tning that the beginner must be brought to under- 
stand on his first day on the hnks, is that with the exception 
of tee shots, and not always then, there are no two shots in 
the game that are exactly similar in all respects, and that a 
man may play a whole round and find it necessary to make 
a pronounced difference in every stroke played in it if he 
is capable of such a thing. No game affords more variety 
in this respect, though to the eye of the uninitiated the process 
of working the ball from the tee to the hole seems to contain 
no variety at all except in the degree of force which is applied 
to the stroke. He must then understand that the method of 
playing with the various clubs differs in ea-ch case. When he 
has mastered one club he will still be proi^^oundly ignorant of 
how to manipulate another. Generally speaking, there is a 
certain amount of similarity with the play oi all wooden clubs, 
which are chiefly intended to despatch the ball great lengths, 
and also there is some similarity between the; play with different 
iron clubs which are principally, though not .always, used when 
accuracy in approaching the hole is require- d more than any 
great length of the stroke. But there are ver> ' wide differences 
between the play with the wooden clubs and t hat with the iron 
ones, and any attempt to use them according X to a uniform 
system, as the untutored beginner would be na turally inclined 
to do, would be certain to end in nothing but disaster. 

In the play with wooden clubs the ball is s wept from its 
resting-place in the course of the long swing of the club, and 
it is, so to speak, merely an incident of the stroke- that the ball 
is there to be carried along witlj the club-head, ;The face of 



10 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

the driver or brassey is carefully aimed at it, and ol course 
the utmost care has to be taken that it is brought into proper 
and accurate contact with it ; but this is done by the regulation 
of the other parts of the swing before the club gets anywhere 
near the ball, and it is of the utmost importance that after 
striking the ball, the club should be allowed to go through to 
the finish of the stroke, in a sense as if nothing had happened. 
In the general understanding of the term the ball is not hit ; 
it is simply swept away. 

But in the case of the play with the iron clubs the stroke 
is distinctly a hit, and, excepting so far as it show* whether 
the stroke was properly made or not, it matters very little 
what happens after the ball has left the club. There is, then, 
this great difference between the two classes of shots, and 
there are other differences of a minor but still important 
character between the play with the various clubs in each 
class. For example, the play with the mashie, which is the 
tool generally employed when it is desired to lift the ball 
fairly high up into the air so that when it drops it will not 
run very far and so that therefore its final resting-place can 
be most accurately judged, is a whole art and science in itself. 
The beginner will have gained something when he properly 
appreciates these points. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. n 



II. 

METHOD OF TUITION. 

It is evident that like all other players of m}^ experience 
I attach the greatest possible importance to being properly 
taught from the beginning, and the only exception that I make 
is in the case of young boys, who, to my mind, really need 
no tuition at all, despite all the difficulties of the game, and 
the intricate character of the shots that are played in it. Boys 
are very adaptive, and if they have the opportunity of seeing 
good players on the links they very soon imitate them and 
play in the same way. I should think it is the best thing to 
let them fall into their own natural style in this way rather 
than force any particular system on them. If a young boy 
has got any golf in him he will be able to get it out unaided 
in the ordinary course. But when he has left school before 
he first begins to play the case is different, and he must then 
put himself in the hands of a tutor who will do the best that 
is possible with him. In a general way the later in life a man 
begins to play the more artificial and forced is his style, and 
therefore the more remote are his prospects of ever attaining 
the hall-mark of proficiency which is indicated in being a 
scratch player. But it does not by any means follow that 
a player must begin early in order to play a fine game, for 
championships have been won by players who never saw a 
golt baU until they were approaching middle age. In any 



12 Spalding's Athletic Library 

case, whether they begin early or late in life, players derive 
an almost equal enjoyment from the game, and in most cases 
that is everything. 

One might add that great skill at other games does not 
necessarily indicate bright prospects of success at golf. To 
be sure the man who is athletic and adaptable ought to have 
a pull over others ; but it is surprising in what a large number 
of cases he fails to show that he has. Most people come to 
^olf from cricket, and it is imagined that cricket is a first- 
class training for it. So it is up to a certain point; but the 
cricketer has to make up his mind that when he is on the 
links he is no cricketer and knows nothing of any other game 
than that which he has in hand at the moment. If he 
applies any of his cricket methods to golf he will find himself 
in trouble, and the cricket stroke in the drive is one of the 
worst things ever seen on the Hnks, and one of the hardest 
faults to get out of. One often finds that a good billiard player 
makes a good golfer, because he has such a full appreciation 
of the different effects upon a little ball according to the precise 
manner in which it is struck. And the superior training of his 
eye stands him in very good stead on the putting greens. 

There are two other things for the beginner to bear in mind. 
The first is that though golf may not be a violent exercise like 
cricket or football or tennis, it is nevertheless a gan-e which 
makes many demands on a man's physique, that is if he plays 
it to any considerable extent. Let it be borne in i.nnd that 
a man who plays two matches of eighteen holes in a day has 
necessarily walked the best part of ten miles in doi'/g so, and 
that he has made somewhere about a couple of hun-Jred body 
movements in the swinging of his clubs. He will n )t be able 



Spalding'* s Athletic Library 13 

to do this with the greatest amount of pleasure to himself 
unless he takes ordir^ary precautions to keep himself fit and 
in the best condition of body and nerve. 

The last piece of advice I have to give to the beginner 
before sending him out with his clubs is to make it a principle 
with himself in his early days to play a little and to think a 
lot. Golf is a game requiring an enormous amount of thought, 
and unless the player can always ascertain exactly what is the: 
reason for his faults and what is the reason for his method of 
remedying them he will never make much progress. The more 
he thinks out the game for himself the better he will get on 
at it, and it is when he is doing so that this little volume will 
be most useful as containing the main principles of correct 
play set down with as much simplicity and lucidity as I am 
capable of. I think that every player who is not a boy should 
take his lessons from a teacher ; but a sound book on golf 
will be of great use to him for study when he is off the links 
and is reflecting on the things that happened the last time 
he was there. Short and simple as it is, the man who can 
bring himself to do everything just as I tell him in this 
book will have arrived at that stage when he will require very 
little instruction from any one. I am not going into the fine 
points of the game, such as intentional slicing, puUing, and so 
forth, because it may be years before the beginner is ready 
for such advanced instruction, and at the outset he will find 
his time quite sufficiently occupied in preventing that pulling 
and slicing which are not intentional and which threaten to 
spoil his game. 



14 Spalding^s Athletic Lih-ary, 



III. 
CHOOSING THE CLUBS. 

My first v%7ord of advice is to buy no clubs at all, except under 
the most competent advice, until you know something about 
the game, and to buy as few as possible until you feel that 
you know a great dea.l about it, and really understand what 
it is that you are buying. The professional or other instructor 
who gives you your first lessons in the game v^ill be the best 
man to fit you out ; but at some of the best golf stores there 
are very competent golfers in charge, who have a sufficient 
sense of the responsibility of their business not to thrust upon 
the beginner tools that will be of very little use to him even 
if they will not prove harmful. But the intending player must 
be very careful as to whom he deals with in this way. It is 
a great mistake to join a golf club and buy a set of clubs, as 
so many people do, before the first visit to the course is made, 
with the mistaken idea that they will be all ready and fitted out 
on their arrival at the links. 

The professional will very soon size up his man, and supply 
him with what is most adapted to his requirements. There 
are, however, some general principles governing the selection 
of clubs for different players which I may set down here. 
First I would say that for any class of player I do not favour 
featherweight clubs. A golf-club, after all, is not a very heavy 
thing, and even the very lightest players, and those who have 



Spaidtng^s Athletic Library. 15 

the least physical strength must be quite capable of swinging 
a tolerably heavy club with a good deal of effect. Mind, I 
am not advocating really heavy clubs for all sorts and conditions 
of players ; but I am merely urging that because a man is 
physically slender it does not follow that he must have lighter 
clubs than other men. As a general rule thev are not so 
steady and reliable in the hands of a player as heavier clubs 
are. To some extent opinion in the golf world changes from 
time to time as to which is the better, short clubs or long ones. 
Sometimes there is a craze for clubs with very long shafts, and 
this fancy reached a very exaggerated stage a little while ago, 
when some players went in for what were called fishing-rod 
drivers. In my opinion they gain very little, if anything, in 
length, and it is inevitable, no matter how clever they are, 
that they must lose something in accuracy. However, in these 
matters much depends on fancy, and I will only say that for 
my own part I rather advocate a club on the short side, because 
I think it is very much safer in the hands of all classes of players, 
and ensures far more accuracy than can be gained with the long- 
shafted tools. 

Most particular attention should be paid to what is called 
the lie of the clubs that are chosen. By this is meant the angle 
which the bottom of the blade, or the sole of the club, makes 
with th3 shaft. It will be evident that according to the angle 
at which the shaft of the club is held by the player when he is 
preparing to make his stroke, so will the sole of the club lie 
evenly on the ground, or with either its toe or its heel raised up 
above it as the case may be. Now in all cases except one — 
which I shall point out in due course — it is essential for the 
proper making of the stroke that the club should be laid thus 



1 6 Spaldi7ig^s Athletic Library. 

evenly on the ground ; if it is not the ball will not be taken 
properly, and something is sure to go wrong with the stroke. 
The question is as to whether the player must move himself 
nearer or farther from the ball so as to get his club to the right 
angle, or whether he must have different clubs to suit the distance 
at which he feels most comfortable. The latter is the only proper 
course. Every player will find that he feels more comfortable 
and in a better working position when he stands at a particular 
distance from the ball, having regard to the kind of club 
which he has in his hands at the time, and he should have clubs 
chosen for him so that when he stands at this distance their 
soles lie evenly on the turf. Generally a tall man, who will 
not want to lean out very far in making his stroke, will fmd 
that in the natural order of things he will hold his club very 
upright, and consequently he will want clubs with what we 
call upright lies, that is clubs which have the angles formed 
between the soles and the shafts rather sharper — a little nearer 
to right angles — than in the case of others. Short men, on the 
other hand, will want clubs with flat lies, as they are called, 
that is to say clubs in which the angle just referred to is very 
much wider. The selection of clubs with proper lies is of 
great importance, and it is above all necessary that the different 
clubs in a set should have lies to match, and should not be all 
different from each other. When the latter is the case, as so 
often happens with inexperienced players, either the player has 
constantly to accommodate himself to his various clubs and 
change his position according to each of them, when it should 
not be necessary to do so (a course of procedure which will 
spoil all the confidence and accuracy of his play), or else for 
many of his shots he will be playing his clubs in a way that does 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 17 

not suit them and from which good results are next to im- 
possible. Players very often blame clubs for their own inferior 
play when they are not justified in doing so; but it does 
frequently happen that players have clubs with lies which do 
not suit them, and this is often the unsuspected cause of constant 
failure with implements which look to be the very perfection of 
their class. 

Questions as to the length of the face, and the depth of it, 
and the amount of loft on the various clubs, can only be satis- 
factorily settled after a little experience, as what will suit one 
player in this way will not suit another. I may say, however, 
that I am not very much of a believer in the very short faces 
on wooden clubs which have been so fashionable during the; 
last few years. I don't see that there is any gain in them,, 
and if there is no gain it is more than likely that there is, 
some loss. 

Much depends on the build of a man as to what kind of 
clubs he should be fitted out with. An entirely different kind 
of club should be placed in the hands of the free-limbed, 
athletic man from that which is given to the stiffly built man 
to play with. The latter plays more from his shoulders, and 
is unable to twist his body round so easily for the purpose of 
swinging the club. It follows, therefore, that he usually makes a 
much shorter swing — a kind of half swing — and when that is the 
case it is advisable to give him a rather heavier club than usual, 
in order that he may get a full amount of force into his 
stroke. On the other hand, the loosely built man, who will 
naturally go in for a very free and full swing, may have rather 
hghter clubs. 

Whatever the beginner is provided with at the outset, he is^ 




Position of Hands and Fingers for the Overlapping Grip. 
See Chapter IV. 



Spalding'' s Athletic Lih-a?y. tg 



IV. 

HOW TO GRIP THE CLUB. 

The first thing the beginner will have to learn is how to grip 
his club properly preparatory to making a stroke, and this 
is not quite the simple matter that it may appear at the first 
glance. There are many golfers of considerable experience 
who do not grip their clubs in the right manner, and they 
are suffering accordingly. During the last few years a new 
kind of grip has been making itself exceedingly popular, and 
it is now used b}^ most of the players who have attained 
championship honours. It is what they call the overlapping 
grip. In taking hold of the club the two hands are brought 
so close together that the right one, which is the lower of 
the two, actually partly overlaps the left one, that is to say 
some of the fingers of the former ride on the top of the fingers 
of the other. For those who can use it properly this grip 
has many advantages, the chief of which is that there is never 
any doubt as to the proper amount of work to be done by 
each hand, since, to a very large extent, the two hands work 
together as one. When he gets on in the game the player will 
find that one of his chief difficulties from time to time is 
properly to apportion the amount of work and responsibility to 
each hand, and when the business is not properly shared the 
stroke goes wrong. Sometimes it is necessary that the right 
hand should be the controlling factor, and sometimes the left, 
that is when the two hands are held apart as in the ordinary 




I 



lil 



I 







AnoMier view of the Hands and Fingers in the Overlapping Grip. 
See Chapter IV. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 2t 

grip. Most of the difficulties arising from this state of affairs 
are obviated in the case of the overlapping grip, and when 
one has become accustomed to its use it is very easy and 
comfortable and never gives any trouble. Taylor, Harry Vardon, 
and I all use this kind of grip. 

Those who have started golf with the other one, and now, 
perhaps later on in their careers, are desirous of making a change 
to the overlapping grip because they have heard so much about 
it and because the idea of it appeals to them, should bear 
one thing in mind, and that is that it will not suit every one — 
a warning which it seems to me has not been given often 
enough. Excellent as are the advantages of this way of holding 
the club, there are some players in whose case it would be 
mere folly and waste of time trying to cultivate it, and in fact 
one sometimes sees players persevering with it in the most 
diligent manner and all the time playing a much worse game 
than usual in consequence, because of a vain hope that they 
will sometime reap great benefits from it. What it is absolutely 
essential the player should have for this grip are very strong 
fingers, which are at the same time probably a little above 
the average in length. With fingers of medium strength good 
results cannot be achieved with the overlapping grip, and it 
will at the same time be far more comfortable and satisfactory 
to keep to the old-fashioned system to which many of the best 
players still adhere and to which there are no objections when 
it is not abused in any way. 

But if there is no reason on this score why the player should 
not adopt the overlapping grip, and he desires to do so, it may 
be recommended with all possible confidence, and by way of 
intToducing it to the reader he may be referred to the 



n. I 




Position of Hands and Fingers for the Ordinai-y two " V " Grip. 
See Chapter IV. 



Spalding'' s Aihletic Library. 2.-? 

photographs of it, which will give him a very clear idea of 
what it is and how it is made. 

It will be noticed that my left hand grips the club well over 
the top of the shaft, and it grips it firmly with all the fingers. 
My thumb rests against the side of the shaft, and I might remaik 
here that in the case of the right hand also the thumb is more 
against the side of the shaft than on the top of it, this con- 
stituting a slight difference from the grips taken by other well- 
known players. It is largely a matter of fancy, and some people 
maintain that by keeping their thumbs almost, if not completely, 
on the top of the shafts they keep a better control during the 
swing ; but I have found the opposite to be the case. Having 
got my left hand in position to begin with, I apply the right 
hand to the club so that the latter lies in the joint of the first 
finger. The two first fingers grip well hold of this club, the 
third finger does very little, and the little one rests on the top of 
the first finger of the left hand, thus effecting the coupling of the 
two hands. When the grip is complete the left thumb is pressed 
against the side of the shaft by the ball of the right hand. 

The whole grip must be very firm and such as to ensure a 
complete command over the club in every respect ; but the 
player must be cautioned against making it too tight, so that the 
muscles of the wrist and forearm are stiffened up as they are 
when unusual pressure is employed by the hands in gripping. 
It is these muscles which have to do much of the work in 
swinging the club, and it would be fatal to make them so taut as 
to be more or less unworkable. 

The other kind of grip, which is the one most generally in use, 
is very easily explained. The club is gripped in the simplest 
possible manner, the left hand above the right, and when this is 



24 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

done and both hands are brought quite close together so that 
there is not a fraction of space between them, there is only one 
particular in which the novice can possibly go wrong. His first 
instinct would, no doubt, be to take hold of the club in the same 
way that he would seize anything else that he wanted to wield, 
and this way would generally consist of each hand being applied 
sideways to the handle, as it were, so that both sets of finger- 
nails would come up on the top. This would be quite wrong, 
and a proper swing would be quite impossible with such a grip. 
The right hand should be brought much more round on to the 
top of the shaft, and the left hand should be turned in to meet it 
as it were, so that the arch formed by the join of the first finger 
with the thumb in each case is almost directly over the centre of 
the shaft. Because of this being the guide to the proper way of 
gripping, the old-fashioned method as thus described is often 
called the two-V grip. See page 22. 

In this case again different players have different fancies as to 
where the thumbs should be, and in different cases you find one 
or otlier, or both of them, on the top of the shaft ; but as before 
I am of opinion that the best place for them is the side. 

Make the grip as nearly as possible in the middle of the 
leather on the handle of the club, with about the same amount 
of it projecting at each end. One does not get the proper 
balance of the club and cannot employ it with the same effect 
if the grip is made right at the bottom, as players sometimes 
make it when they are off their game and go groping about in all 
directions for a remedy for the faults that they commit. In such 
cases it sometimes happens that temporarily a very low grip 
effects a great improvement ; but it is altogether wrong and will 
sooner or later brin^g trouble on the player. I would earnestly 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 2^ 

advise him therefore to avoid such expedients. In the same way 
you should not grasp the leather right at the top end, as then 
you feel a complete loss of control over the club. 

It should be remembered that the surface of the leather 
should be kept in such a state as to afford a perfectly secure 
grip to the hands. For this reason it should not be soft and 
smooth, but should have a little bite. If it should be made 
of ordinary leather it will need to be rubbed occasionally 
with pitch or wax ; but latterly a kind of American cloth 
has been largely used for these handle coverings, and very 
delightful it is for such use, giving a cool and very firm grip. 
Its only disadvantage is that it does not wear very well. 
Rubber grips are popular with some players, though not so 
much so as they used to be. They often split and give way 
at the ends, and then shrink up all at once so that the club 
is practically useless for the rest of the round, which may 
sometimes be a very serious matter. Also they are very 
dangerous in wet weather, for then they become very Slip- 
pery, and it is next to impossible to keep the hands tight 
on them. There are tales of championships having been 
lost through this cause. 

I might add that the same system of gripping the club 
should be carried out uniformly in the case of all the different 
clubs which the player employs, and the only variation is 
in the degree of tightness with which the right hand is held. 
These variations I will explain in their proper place. Some 
players, however, who cannot master the overlapping grip 
for their other strokes where force is required more or less, 
use it in putting, and there is no objection to their doing so 
if they think it helps them, as it may very conceivably do. 



^^ 



<6 
2 V 



6 



7 



STANCES FOR STROKES. 



Showing comparatively the different positions of each foot for play 
with different clubs. The figures on the left of the vertical line 
each represent positions of the left foot, and those on the right 
side the corresponding positions of the right foot. The strokes 
indicated are as follows : — 

1, I Ordinary drive. 

2, 2 Playing for a pull with driver. 

3, 3 Playing for a shie with driven 

4, 4 Full cleek shot. 

5, 5 Full iron shot. 

6, 6 Full mashie shot. 

7, 7 Putting. 



Spaldiiig's Athletic Library. 27 



STANCE AND ADDRESS IN DRIVING. 

The way in which a golfer stands to his ball, and the dis- 
tance which his feet are from each other and from the ball 
are called the stance, and tlie stance varies with each different 
kind of shot that it is desired to make. When a player has 
taken up his stance and is preparing to hit the ball he is 
said to be addressing it. The first shot that is played in the 
round is the drive, and it is needed from the teeing ground 
at most of the holes on the way round. In many respects 
it is the most fascinating shot in the whole of golf, and 
there is none which gives the golfer so much pleasure 
as a fine drive, in which the ball is sent along in a dead 
straight line, or with just such a suspicion of pull on it as 
to help its length. The golfer always knows when the ball 
has gone quite sweetly off his club, and when every ounce 
and grain that he put into the stroke were taken by the ball. 
It has become the fashion in some quarters to try to make 
out that long driving is not of so much importance as it has 
been made out to be, and that players need not make any 
great efforts to attain it. To that statement one has to reply 
that while long driving is certainly not everything, and that 
a player should never sacrifice such accuracy and steadiness 
as he is capable of in order to accomplish it, still it makes 
every remaining stroke in the playing of the hole easier and 




en 

0) 



m 




Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 29 

more certain, and consequently it must necessarily happen 
that now and again a whole stroke is saved. I therefore say 
that while short drivers have done great things, and that 
while there is no reason why they should not do them again, 
especially now that they are so much helped by the rubber- 
cored balls, still I think a man can rarely become a really 
] great player unless he is at all events a fairly long driver. 
As I suggested in the opening pages of this little work, it is 
more likely to come through great accuracy and the most 
perfect timing combined with a reasonable exertion of strength 
than as the result of muscular effort pure and simple. 

When the player makes his drive from the tee he is allowed 
to have most things in his favour, and consequently it is per- 
mitted to him to place his ball on a tiny eminence, usuallv 
made of sand, which is called teeing it. His club-head, there- 
fore, has a clean sweep at the ball with no obstructions sur- 
rounding it. He can make his tee anywhere on the teeing 
ground within the recognised limits, and he should take advan- 
tage of this latitude in selecting a place where his feet will 
have a secure hold from heel to toe, where the feet will be 
level with each other, and where the ball will be as nearly 
as possible on a level patch of ground. A slight inclination 
one way or the other so as to cause a hanging lie, as it is 
called, will materially affect the stroke. It is not always a 
good thing to tee in just the same place as others have done 
before you, as indicated by the sand they have left behind. 
The tee in that place is often rough and slippery after such 
constant use. Care should also be taken to tee the ball in 
a place where everything about it is smooth and even. A 

cigarette stump, a piece of paper, or a match stalk might be 

B 



30 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

quite sufficient to distract the eye when the a'ownward swing 
was being made, with the result that the stroke would be 
almost certainly spoiled. For the same reason it is not a good 
thing to tee up very near to the teeing-box. Tee in such a 
place that the very narrow field of vision which is afforded 
to the eye when it is lixed on the ball includes nothing except 
the tee and the bare turf. The tee should be as low as is 
consistent with the club taking the ball without any impedi- 
ment. Many players make the mistake of teeing too high. 

Then comes the great question as to how exactly the player 
shall stand when he is getting ready for his stroke and while 
he is making it. This is a matter of vast importance, inas- 
much as the success or failure of the stroke depends largely 
on it, and it is surprising what an effect a variation of an 
inch or two in the position of one or other of the feet will 
have upon the way in which the ball is hit and the subs''- 
quent flight of it. The player should take the greatest pains 
to find out exactly what stance suits him best for the different 
strokes, and should be sure that this stance is theoretically 
justifiable. No very hard-and-fast rule can be laid down, 
and there is some margin for individual peculiarities, for 
almost all the leading players vary to some slight extent in 
this respect. Still there are certain general principles to be 
obeyed, and if the golfer attempts to defy them because he 
thinks he can do better in his own way, he is sure to be 
sorry for it before he has had any very lengthy experience 
on the links. When he has found the right stance for each 
stroke he should stick to it, even when he is temporarily off 
his game and is inclined to try all sorts of dodges in order 
to get back to it, and he should not give up his stance for 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 31 

another one until after the gravest consideration, and having 
quite satisfied himself that what he is doing is for the best. 

Now it is impossible to give any definite instruction as to 
how far in feet and inches the player should stand from the 
ball, as it is obvious that this must largely depend on his 
height and the length of his reach. As I am six feet two in 
height it would be little use for me to tell a player who was 
only five feet seven how far my feet are from the ball when 
I am addressing it, because it would be wrong for him to 
stand so far away, and even in the case of players of the 
same stature and length of reach there are slight variations 
which are permissible. As a general rule, however, the player 
should stand just so far from the ball that when the face of 
the club is laid against it the end of the shaft just reaches to 
his left knee when the latter has just the suspicion of a bend 
in it. Standing at this distance he will be able to make his 
stroke freely and comfortably and with accuracy, not having 
to overreach himself on the one hand or cramp himself on 
the other. 

Then as to the relative positions of the feet, there are two 
distinct systems. The stance, according to one of them, is 
called the open stance. When this is adopted the right foot 
is placed considerably nearer to the ball than the left— perhaps 
eight or nine inches nearer, or even more than that. By this 
system it will be seen that as the club is being brought on 
to the ball, and afterwards when it is following through, the 
passage, so to speak, is quite clear, and the left foot is well 
out of the way. With this stance, which is very popular with 
some of the best players, very fine and powerful play is possible. 
The other stance is rather more old-fashioned, but is still played 



32 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

with and thoroughly believed in by many of the best amateur 
and professional players, particularly those belonging to the 
old Scottish schools. In this case the right toe is either just 
on a level with the left one or even some inches behind it. 
To the uninitiated this difference may seem a very small 
matter; but it means everything to the style of the player. 
In the case of the open stance the weight for the greater part 
of the stroke is on the right foot, and therefore we say that the 
man is playing off the right foot. With the square stance it is 
rather more on the left. The general opinion seems to be that 
the open stance is the easier of the two to work with ; but I 
am not in agreement. My own stance is a partially square one, 
for my toes are almost dead level with each other, as may be 
seen by reference to the accompanying photographs. After 
much consideration, and as a result of my experience with 
hundreds of pupils, I have come to the conclusion that it is 
easier for the beginner to learn to play off the left foot, that 
is to say with the toes either level with each other or the right 
one slightly behind the other. He will get quite as good results 
with this stance as he would with the other ; it is really quite 
as easy to follow-through with the club when the stroke is 
being made, and the player is not so liable to fall into the 
error of getting his hands and body in front of the club. 
Moreover, one of the commonest and most trying faults of the 
beginner is slicing with his wooden clubs. A stroke is sliced 
when the club-head is — imperceptibly to the eye or even to the 
feel — drawn across the ball at the moment of contact. It may 
be only a sixteenth of an inch, but the result is to impart a 
curious motion to the ball, as the result of which, after starting 
off in a straight line^ it suddenly wheels round to the right, and 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 33 

soiiietimes towards the end of its flight it is actually travelling 
at right angles to its original and proper direction. The con- 
sequence, of course, is that much of the desired length is lost, 
and in addition the ball, by wheeling round in this way, is almost 
certain to land itself into a bunker, or the rough grass or other 
trouble on the side of the fairway, so that a whole stroke, or the 
best part of one, is lost. When the golfer plays off the left 
foot with the square stance, although he is not immune from 
slicing he is very much less liable to it than with the open 
stance. 

Concerning the position of the ball with respect to the feet, 
there is not much room for variation or difference of opinion. 
In some abnormal cases one finds a player teeing up the ball 
almost opposite his left toe, while a few others bring it back 
to a point almost midway between the feet, or even a shade 
more to the right. But undoubtedly a mistake is made in each 
instance. The commoner practice, and that which I have 
always adopted myself, and which I recommend to all others, 
is to place the ball, or place the feet, so that the former is in 
a line about six inches to the right of the left heel. This 
allows of the full force of the swing being brought on to it, 
of the club taking it at the time which is likely to be most 
effective, and of the follow-through being executed in the 
easiest and most complete manner. Both the toes should be 
turned slightly outwards. When in position and ready for 
play, both the legs and the arms of the player should be just 
a trifle relaxed — just so much as to get rid of any feeling of 
stiffness, and to allow of the most complete freedom of move- 
ment. The slackening may be a little more pronounced in 
the case of the arms than with the legs, as much more freedom 



34 Spalding^s Athletic Lih'ary. 

is required of them subsequently. They should fall easily and 
comfortably to the sides, and the general feeling of the player 
at this stage should be one of flexibility and power. If he 
does not possess it the chances are that there is something 
wrong somewhere. He should take care that the weight of 
his body is now well down on his heels and not on the balls 
of his feet. An almost imperceptible movement will make all 
the difference in this respect, and it is quite impossible to drive 
well or accurately unless the weight is on the heels. There 
may be a little more weight on the right heel than on the 
left in the case of the address. In passing it may be remarked 
that the player should never neglect the precaution of having 
plenty of good hobnails in the soles of his boots or shoes to 
prevent him from sHpping. Despite the fact that his attitude 
is constituted for comfort and power, the player should guard 
against any tendency to stoop or to let his head fall down. Both 
these faults are very serious in some cases, and are very difficult 
to get rid of. The head should be kept well up throughout 
the stroke, and the body should be held up as well as circum- 
stances will permit. The right shoulder may be dipped a little 
at this point, but care has to be taken that it is not let down 
any more while the stroke is in progress. When all these 
arrangements have been made, and the club-head is laid to the 
ball, the sole of the club, as I have already indicated, must 
lie flat upon the turf. 

Everything is now in readiness for making the stroke, and 
the player prepares to hit the ball. He takes his last look or 
two in the direction of the hole to satisfy himself thoroughly 
about what exactly it is that he wants to do, and what it is 
necessary to do, and to make a final mental note of the par- 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 35 

ticular dangers that are in front of this tee shot, and how they 
may be avoided. While he is doing this he will feel the desire 
to indulge in a preliminary waggle of the club, just to see that 
his arms are in working order, waving the club-head backwards 
and forwards once or twice over the ball. Different players 
have all kinds of waggles, some slow and deliberate, others 
quick and energetic, and others again make all kinds of fancy 
movements. But each adheres to his own system which grows 
up with him, and without a practice of which he would never 
feel quite safe in attempting a stroke. Obviously there is no 
rule in such matters, and the player can only be enjoined to 
make himself comfortable in the best way he can. But it is 
better that, during the last waggle at any rate, the eyes should 
have ceased to regard that point in the distance to which it 
is intended to despatch the ball, and should have settled down 
to looking steadily at the ball itself. 

This brings me naturally to a repetition of the most justly 
celebrated maxim in golf — '' Keep your eye on the ball." There 
is no other rule which is half so valuable and necessary, because 
it is quite certain that if you do not keep your eye on it fiom 
the moment that you commence your swing until it has been 
sent from the tee no good whatever can come of the stroke, 
and the chances are greatly in favour of its being foozled and 
generally ruined. Even players of long experience and con- 
siderable skill, sometimes, as the result of over-confidence, get 
into the way now and again of temporarily allowing their eyes 
to wander, though they are unconscious that they are doing so, 
and the result is that their strokes go wrong and they cannot 
think why. It seems such an easy thing to keep one's eye on 
the ball, and yet it is not quite so easy as it looks. The time 



36 Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 

when it is most frequently taken off is just when the club is 
coming down on to it, and it is just the time when the mistake 
is likely to prove the most expensive. The fact seems to be 
that the mind, and the optic nerves through it, work rather 
more quickly than the arms and body, and they anticipate 
the flight of the ball and consequently look up in the direction 
in which it is to travel, eager to see what has become of the 
stroke. Consequently the impulse is a natural one to some 
extent, and as such will have to be very carefully guarded 
against. Some players who find themselves in constant trouble 
in this matter have forced on themselves a rule that they shall 
always take care to see the place where the ball was after it 
has been struck by the club before they look up to see what 
has happened, and this is not by any means a bad rule in such 
circumstances, although it involves keeping the eyes fixed on the 
spot really rather longer than is necessary. If an instantaneous 
photograph is taken of a good player just at the moment when 
the ball has started on its journey, and the club is following 
through, it will be noticed that his gaze is still directed to 
the spot where the ball was teed, although he would not be 
conscious of the fact. Like a good many other things, this 
business which may be rather troublesome at first becomes 
habit after a while. There is only one other injunction to make, 
and that is that the gaze should be fastened on to the side of 
the ball and not on the top of it, that is to say you must look at 
the point that you mean to hit. And now you begin the swing 



Spalding's Athletic Library 37 

VI. 

THE UPWARD SWING IN DRIVING. 

If I were asked to say what is the most important movement 

in the whole of golf, I should say the upward swing when it 

is intended to make a full shot with either the driver or the 

brassey. This upward swing comprises a great deal of the style 

of a player, and it generally surprises the beginner to be told 

that everything as to the way in which the ball is hit and 

despatched on its journey depends on this backward movement 

with the club. Even many old players do not seem to have 

sufficiently grasped the truth of the statement, or if they have 

they constantly neglect the moral. Although the up-swing has 

nothing to do with the hitting of the ball, and it is only in the 

down-swing that the latter is struck, the up-swing is much the 

more important movement of the two inasmuch as whatever it 

is the down-swing is almost sure to be. This is to say that if 

the up-swing is made in a mechanically and theoretically 

proper manner, it is unlikely that anything will go wrong at 

all events until the ball has been hit. On the other hand, if 

the up-swing is badly made it is practically impossible for the 

down-swing to be right, and therefore the stroke will be badly 

played and in one way or another the ball will refuse to travel 

properly. The first business of the young golfer, therefore, 

must be to take immeasurable pains to make his up-swing 

perfect, and it is an exercise that he should never be tired of 

practising. 










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Spaldi?ig''s Athletic Library. 



39 



Three important rules about the up-swing may be set down 
to begin with, and to break any of them will be fatal. In the 
first place, it must be conducted very slowly — moderately 
"slow back" is another of the golden rules of golf. Secondly, 
the head of the player must be kept as motionless as possible ; 
in fact, to all intents and purposes it must be quite rigid and 
motionless. Thirdly, the body also must be kept quite still ; 
that is, so far as sideways movements or swaying backwards 
or forwards is concerned. Unless the strictest attention is 
given to each of these points the whole movement will go 
out of gear, and anything like uniformity and accuracy will 
be impossible. The object is to bring the club backwards to 
a certain point — generally until it is behind the shoulders and 
about horizontal — in the smoothest and easiest manner possible. 

With beginners there may be a natural impulse, particularly 
when they feel fairly confident about what they are going to 
do and how they are going to do it, to swing back very suddenly 
and quickly in the partly unconscious belief that the quicker 
the thing is done the harder they will be able to hit the ball. 
As a matter of fact they will find that speed in the backward 
swing rather takes it off the forward one on to the ball instead 
of increasing it, and, besides that, tends to make the player lose 
all control of his movements and of the command of his club. 
If either the head or the body are guilty of any perceptible 
movement, there can be no rhythm or accuracy of the stroke. 
Of course the body has to turn while the up-swing is being 
made, but it should do this from the hips alone, so that the 
whole of the human machinery seems to work upon an axis 
at this point. 

Bearing these things in mind, you begin the swing. The 



40 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

irst movement must come from the wrists, and it is the left 
one which makes the initiative. They, and they alone, start 
the head of the club moving back from the ball, the left one 
giving the first gentle pressure to the club, while, as* soon as 
the latter begins to move, the left elbow begins to bend slightly 
so as to accommodate itself to the movement'. One of the 
commonest mistakes seen on the links is the breaking of this 
rule by players who at the commencement of their swings, 
instead of letting their wrists begin the work in the manner 
indicated, swing away both arms to the right from the shoulder. 
This completely disturbs the whole arrangement, for the wrists, 
which will still have their work to do, will begin it at a wrong 
and inconvenient position, and a great deal of power and sure- 
ness will have been wasted. This fault is sometimes committed 
in the belief that a very wide outward and backward sweep of 
the club is necessary to the making of a good long drive, but 
such is not the case. I don't believe at all in those long sweeps. 
When the swing is well started, that is to say, when the club 
has been taken a matter of about a couple of feet from the ball 
it will become impossible, or at least inconvenient and uncom- 
fortable, to keep the feet so firmly planted on the ground as 
they were when the address was made. It is the left one that 
wants to move, and consequently at this stage you must allow 
it to pivot. By this is meant that the heel is raised slightly, and 
the foot turns over until only the ball of it rests on the ground. 
Many players pivot on the toe, but I think this is not so safe, 
and does not preserve the balance so well. When this pivoting 
begins the weight is being taken off the left leg and transferred 
almost entirely to the right, and at the same moment the left 
knee turns in towards the right toe. The right leg then stiffens 



Spalding^s Athletic Library. 



41 



a little, and the right heel is more firmly than ever planted on 
the ground. 

The continuation of the up-swing is a simple matter so long 
as it is not too rapidly executed. Keep the right elbow fairly 
well into the side of the body. In far too many cases players 
let it go away from them as soon as the swing gets under 
way, partly, perhaps, with the idea of getting that wide sweep 
to which reference has just been made. The only real result, 
however, is to destroy accuracy and power and the whole 
beauty of the movement — because the swing for the drive is 
really a beautiful movement — is spoiled. The club has to be 
brought round to the back of the body and not over the head. 
As the club begins to get round there the left wrist must be 
allowed to turn inwards and underneath the shaft. This is 
very important, because when the wrist is kept alongside or 
over the shaft the position is very cramped, the head of the 
club is not in the proper position for commencing the down- 
ward swing, and all manner of evils arise as the result. If a 
player tries the swing both ways he will feel at once the great 
difference in the comfort and feeling of control that he has 
over the club when he works that left wrist in the proper 
manner. 



LEFT FOOT 



The black patch represents the part of the sole on which the player 
should balance or pivot during the upward swing instead of on 
the toe as is commonly done. 



42 Spalding's Athletic Library. 



VII. 

THE TOP OF THE SWING. 

When the club has been brought back in the way I have 
directed, and when the wrists have been allowed to do their 
work in the proper manner, it will be found that at the farthest 
point of the backward swing, or the top of the swing as we 
call it, the toe of the club is facing the ground. If it does not 
do so it is an absolutely certain sign that there is something 
seriously wrong — generally with the wrist work — and it is quite 
necessary that the player should find out what is the matter, 
and set it right. 

The question arises as to how far this backward swing should 
be prolonged. No very strict rule can be laid down in the 
matter, as it largely depends on the peculiarities of the style 
of play and also of the physical powers of the player. A 
strong man, flexibly built, and with powerful wrists, may take 
a longer swing, and take it with advantage, than a weaker man 
with slender wrists, and the stiffly built man will inconvenience 
himself very considerably if he attempts a long swing. It does 
not by any means follow that the longer the swing— that is, 
when it is carried to excess— the longer will be the drive, and 
there is certainly some gain in exactness when shorter swings 
are employed. It must be remembered that the player nearly 
always swings much more than he thinks he does. In no case 
do I think it advisable to prolong the swing beyond that point 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 43 

when the club becomes horizontal, and it should not be taken 
so far if the player feels that he is losing control over it. That 
is the best rule in the matter — that the club must not be taken 
an inch farther back than that point at which the player has 
the fullest and a most absolute control over it. If this is lost 
for an instant at the top of the swing the gravest consequence 
may be feared, and most of the care which was lavished on the 
preliminary movements will have been wasted. Besides, in the 
case of very long swings there is always a strong tendency to 
cut the ball. 

Bearing in mind what has already been said about not letting 
the right elbow get too far away from the body during the 
upward swing, it will be found, or should be, that at the top of 
the swing it is not more than six inches away — that is to say, not 
an inch further away than is consistent with making the swing in 
a free-and-easy manner. 

While it is of great importance for the sake of both accuracy 
and power that the swing back should be made slowly, as already 
directed, the player must guard against any tendency to make a 
pause at the top point. The beginner, in his deliberate and very 
conscious efforts, which are never more conscious than at this 
turning-point of the swing, when he feels an enormous sense of 
responsibility, regularly comes to a full stop here, and the result 
is practically to destroy all the value of the upward movement. 
It is just the same as if the club had been poised in the air and 
the whole thing begun from the top point. There should be 
nothing in the nature of a sudden jerk back from the top of the 
swing ; but the downward movement should be begun as soon as 
the upwaord one has ceased, and there should be no perceptible 
pause. 



44 Spalding's Athletic Library. 



VIII. 

THE DOWNWARD SWING. 

So now we may begin the down-swing, which, though it is all- 
important in that it is the really active part of the stroke, the one 
that makes the ball go, is in many of its features one which in the 
nature of things affords less scope for effort and care than the 
upward swing, since, as already pointed out, what the latter is, so 
is the downward swing almost certain to be. One might say that 
the up-swing is really the first half of the down-swing, and the 
half that settles what the whole thing is going to be. 

The chief thing to bear in mind is that there must be in the 
case of play with the driver and the brassey no attempt to Mi 
the ball, which must be simply swept from the tee and carried 
forward in the even and rapid swing of the club. The drive in 
golf differs from almost every other stroke in every game in which 
the propulsion of a ball is the object. In the ordinary sense 
of the word, implying a sudden and sharp impact, it is not a 
"hit" when it is properly done. When the ball is so "hit," and 
the club stops very soon afterwards, the result is that very little 
length comparatively will be obtained, and that, moreover, there 
will be a very small amount of control over the direction of 
the ball. 

While it is, of course, in the highest degree necessary that the 
ball shall be taken in exactly the right place on the club and in 
the right manner, this will have to be done by the proper regula- 



Spa/di?ig's Athletic Library. 45 

tion of all the other parts of the swing, and any effort to direct 
the club on to it in a particular manner just as the ball is being 
reached cannot be attended by success. If the ball is taken by 
the toe or heel of the club, or is topped, or if the club gets too 
much under it, the remedy for these faults is not to be found in 
a more dehberate directing of the club on to the ball just as the 
two are about to come into contact, but in the better and more 
exact regulation of the swing the whole way through up to this 
point. Something may be wrong with the stance, the body may 
have swayed, the head may have been allowed to move, or the 
movement of the wrists and arms may have been wrong and not 
according to the standard directions as I have just laid them 
down. The object of these remarks is merely to emphasise 
again in the best place that the despatching of the ball from the 
tee by the driver in the downward swing is merely an incident 
of the whole business. The player, in making the down move- 
ment, must not be so particular to see while doing it that he hits 
the ball properly as that he makes the swing properly and finishes 
it well, for— and this signifies the truth of what I have been 
saying— the success of the drive is not only made by what has 
gone before, but it is also due largely to the course taken by the 
club after the ball has been hit. 

On the whole the player will be, and must be, far less con- 
scious of all the details of his action in the down-swing than 
when he was taking the club upwards. Having brought the club 
with the utmost care and thought and attention to detail to the 
top point, there is only one more thing to do, and that is to finish 
off the swing and get the ball away as rapidly as possible. It is 
only after the ball has gone that consciousness will begin to fully 
assert itself and enable the player to give thought to the manner 



46 Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 

of finishing. In time, and when the man is on his game, the 
whole thing, from start to finish, should be to a certain extent 
mechanical. 

The initiative in bringing down the club is taken by the left 
wrist, and the club is then brought forward rapidly and with an 
even acceleration of pace until the club-head is about a couple of 
feet from the ball. So far the movement will largely have been 
an arm movement, but at this point there should be some 
tightening up of the wrists, and the club will be gripped a little 
more tightly. This will probably come about naturally, and 
though some authorities have expressed different opinions, I am 
certainly one of those who beUeve that the work done by the 
wrists at this point has a lot to do with the making of the drive. 
It is merely an assertion of power on their part, and if it ever 
comes to the player it will come naturally and in the course of 
experience. Directions about it cannot be laid down. Just 
when the wrists begin to take their part in the stroke, when the 
face of the club is approaching the ball, the body begins to turn 
and the left knee comes in quickly from its pivoting position, so 
that at the moment of striking the player is quite firm on both 
his feet and faces directly to the ball, just as he did when he 
was addressing it before he began the upward swing. Any one 
who thinks out the theory of the swing for himself will see that 
it is obviously intended that at the moment of impact the player 
shall be just as he was when he addressed the ball, which is the 
position which will afford him most driving power and accuracy. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 47 



IX. 

FINISHING THE STROKE. 

The second that the ball is hit, but not before, the player should 
begin to turn on his right toe, and to allow a little bend of the 
right knee, so as to allow the right shoulder to come round until 
the body faces the Hne of flight of the ball. When this is done 
properly the weight will be thrown on to the left foot, and the 
whole body will be thrown slightly forward. The whole of this 
movement needs very careful timing, because it is a very common 
fault with some players to let the body get in too soon, and in 
such cases the stroke is always ruined. Examine the photo- 
graphs. 

A word about the varying pressure of the grip with each 
hand. In the address the left hand should just be squeezing 
the handle of the club, but not so tightly as if one were afraid of 
losing it. The right hand should hold the club a little more 
loosely. The left hand should hold firmly all the way through. 
The right will open a Httle at the top of the swing to allow the 
club to move easily, but it should automatically tighten itself in 
the downward swing. 

There is only one point now in regard to the finishing of the 
stroke to which one feels that one should direct attention, for if 
everything has been done properly up to this point the accurate 
performance of the rest is almost inevitable. But there is a great 
tendency on the part of some players to twitch in their arms and 



1^ 




Finish of a Full Drive or Brassey Shot. 
See Chapter IX. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 49 

nip the drive after the impact with the ball. The hands are 
pulled in and come to a stop close to the left breast-pocket of the 
coat, and when this is done the club-shaft either points forward 
or straight up. The most immature player will feel by instinct 
that there is something wrong about this, and that it is a rather 
weak and uncomfortable way of finishing what was a very even 
and powerful movement. The fact is that the hands have no 
business in this place, and their being there has prevented the 
arms from going out and the club from getting right through 
with the stroke. When the ball has been swept from the tee the 
arms should to a certain extent be flung out after it, and they 
should be carried through well clear of the body until they come 
to a natural and easy stop and not a forced one, just about 
shoulder-high but some distance from the shoulder. When this 
is done the club will have passed the perpendicular and will have 
travelled a distance towards the back, which varies in the case of 
different players. Some men go in for rather exaggerated finishes,, 
and carry the club so far through that it comes almost back to. 
their right heel, but I cannot see that there is any advantage in 
this process, so long as the finish is fully executed up to the point 
I have indicated. When the arms get well through, and the 
hands finish high up in the place I have indicated, the player will 
find that he experiences a sense of completeness and satisfaction, 
even of exhilaration, which will be denied to him if his drive is 
nipped. It is a very pleasant thing when, having followed well 
through and finished the stroke properly, the ball is watched 
speeding onwards on the proper line and with just the right angle 
of flight to make it travel well. 

It is appropriate to mention at this point just a word of 
warning about style. When you have followed tlxcQugh and. 




Another View of the Finish of the Full Drive or Brassey Shot, 
showing the Position of the Hands and Arms, and how the 
J5ody is brought round to Face the Hole. See Chapter IX. 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library, Si 

finisued the stroke properly, get into the habit of retaining 
this pleasant position until the ball has pretty well run its 
length and the time has come for your opponent to take his 
place on the tee, or, if he has already driven, for you both 
to be moving on. Some players, generally those of a somewhat 
excitable disposition, get into the way of dropping their club, 
or releasing one hand from the grip and dropping it to the 
side, and of moving their feet and bending their body as soon 
as the ball has been stiuck. Perhaps if they quite realised 
how badly the appearance of such a proceeding compares 
with that of a finisH in the proper manner they would be 
more anxious to get out of the habit than they often are. 

As a final injunction, one would again urge the importance 
of keeping the body perfectly steady not only during the 
upward swing, as already emphasised, but during the down- 
ward swing until the ball has gone, and the head all this 
time should be perfectly motionless with the eye glued on 
to the back of the ball. If the body keeps to its original 
position and turns from the waist, and the head remains still, 
it should be found that at the top of the swing the eyes are 
looking over the le^^t shoulder which will be in a direct line 
between the head and the bail. 




GOOD DRIVES AND RAD 



4- 



The straight ball usually the best. 

A ball that begins with a little pull and comes round again- 

generally a fine traveller. 
Slightly palled — fairly long. 
More pull ; trouble likely. 
Sliced and len.^th lost. 



6. Bad Slice 



the worst ball of all. 

See Chapter X. 



Spalding'' s Athletic Library. 53 



X. 

THE LONG BALL. 

It will be seen that although the drive may look a very 
simple thing when being performed by a capable player, it is 
in reality a fairly complicated set of movements, all of which 
have to lit into each other with the utmost nicety, and the 
least deviation from absolute correctness in the ca'''^ of any 
one of them is sufficient to throw the whole thing out of gear 
and ruin the stroke, and how easily ruined it is only golfers 
of experience know. It is too much to expect of any young 
player that he will achieve really good results in driving until 
he has practised most diligently for some considerable time • 
and indeed he will hardly drive a good ball until the actua] 
driving has to a large extent ceased to worry him and he has 
commenced to do it half naturally and unconsciously. 

The more naturally the swing is made and the more perfect 
the movements the longer will the drive become in due course, 
and one must warn the novice against striving too much to 
hit long balls. In a large measure they must be left to come 
of themselves, and any attempt to g^i them by force, or by 
"pressing," is almost certain to have disastrous results. By 
this I do not mean to say that when the upward and down- 
ward swings are perfectly executed the application of strength 
and force in the second half of the proceeding will not result 
in a gain of distance, because it is evident that many players 



54 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

get their long balls in this way, but it is not safe to force the 
drive until the player is very experienced and his style and 
method^ have become quite settled. The beginner should 
make it his sole object to make his swings properly, to hit 
the ball as it ought to be hit, and to send it straight along 
the line without either pull or slice and at just the proper 
height. If he does this he will find that very gradually but 
very surely length will come of itself, and that really long balls 
may be got without any apparent extra effort of strength. If 
he watches the great players he will find that many of them 
drive balls practically as far as it is humanly possible to do 
under present conditions without any such apparent effort, 
and one is therefore inclined to say that perfect skill combined 
with a moderate amount of strength is what is most neces- 
sary for this purpose. Certainly I would say that the secret 
of the long ball is not absolutely strength, for I think that 
looseness of limb has more to do with it than that. 

For the rest, the art of driving the very long ball seems to 
be more or less of a natural gift. Some men can do it, and 
others can't and never will however much they try, and that 
seems to be the end of it. My own experience rather suggests 
that there is something too mysterious about the business for 
explanation, because though I am considered to be a long 
driver in these days, and am generally capable of holding my 
own in this respect, this was not always the case, and the 
change not only came about suddenly but in a manner that 
I have never been able to explain with the least degree of 
satisfaction to myself or to any one else. In my younger days 
I was quite a short driver, and in my matches with my friends 
i was constantly outdriven, so that I was always having to 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 5^ 

fighi hard in the short game. It seemed that my faihng in 
this respect would be fatal to me and to my prospects of 
success, when suddenly, without any warning and without any 
conscious alteration of any of my methods, I began to drive 
a great length, and instead of bemg outdriven I began to 
outdrive all my opponents. I actually put on forty yards in 
X fortnight, and those forty yards, with perhaps a few more 
to keep them company, I have retained ever since, never 
having gone back to my old short-driving experiences. How 
this came about is the greatest mystery of my golfing career, 
and I shall never be able to solve it. It certainly was not 
strength that did it. 

Therefore I strongly advise all young players against pressing 
for the long ball. If they are to be any good at the game it 
will be necessary for them to drive a reasonable length, say 
a hundred and eighty yards, with a fair degree of regularity, 
but this can be done without any application of great strength 
— simply by perfect accuracy of swing and proper timing — 
and when they have got to that point of reliability that they 
can depend upon driving so far on the majority of occasions 
I would recommend to them that for the future instead of 
trying to drive farther and farther, as the majority of them 
do, with the result that a fair proportion of their shots are 
spoiled in the endeavour, they should instead concentrate all 
their efforts on getting straighter and straighter every time. 
They will find this a far more profitable study than that of 
how to get the long ball, even if their researches in the 'atter 
direction should prove successful. Nothing pays in driving 
like absolute reliability and straightness, and the man who 
always hits a ball of fair length and who is always on the 




stance for Drive with Pull. 
See Chapter XI. 



Spalding^ s Athletic Libi-ary, 57 



XI. 

PULLING AND SLICING. 

To pull and to slice is both a fault and an acquisition, 
according to whether it is accidental or intentional. The 
beginner is not often troubled by pulling, but he very fre- 
quently suffers from badly sHced balls, and they not only 
land him in bunkers and in the rough grass, but they take 
all the length off his drive and cause him the greatest 
exasperation. It is very difficult to set down in writing any 
cure for slicing, because it may be caused in so many 
different ways, and frequently the very slightest adjustment 
of the stance or the swing is all that is necessary. It may be 
pointed out, however, that what really makes the slice is the 
drawing of the face of the club across the ball at the moment 
of impact. This may be done in several different ways, but 
when unintentional it is most commonly due either to the 
puUing in of the arms as soon as the ball has been struck or 
to a faulty stance — with the right foot too far forward. In 
each case the cure here is obvious, but when a young player 
has got a really bad attack of slicing, which he cannot get 
rid of, he should without delay consult his professional, who 
will generally be able to set him right in a very few minutes. 
In the same way pulling, when accidental and not wanted, 
is brought about through many different faults, but it is 
chiefly due to improper stance, to bad timms. or to over- 




stance for Drive with Slice. 
See Chapter XI, 



Spaldi?tg's Athletic Library. 59 

work by the right hand. As before, ask the professional 
to put you right. 

Sometimes players wish to do these things deliberately, as 
when a pulled or sliced ball will get them round an obstacle 
which is in their way to the hole without putting them to the 
necessity of going over it, a course which might often mean 
a high ball and one which was consequently devoid of length. 
However, I feel much diftidence in giving any instruction on 
these points. For one thing, by the time the player comes to be 
so expert and to have so much command over his club as to feel 
any ambitions of this kind he will have got very far from the 
beginner's stage, and he will really not be in need of instruction 
as to how to do these shots ; and, on the other hand, a player 
would be very ill advised to attempt any tricks of this kind until 
he has obtained this complete mastery over his club and is 
expert in the ordinary strokes of the game. Besides, a man who 
can drive a straight and sure ball will generally find that he can 
adapt himself to practically all the varying circumstances of the 
game, and the way to win matches is generally to play straight 
to the hole. He who is straightest most frequently wins. I 
would only hint that the most elementary direction for obtaining 
the sliced ball is to take your stance with your right foot 
advanced and so that the ball is more in a line with the left 
heel than in the case of an ordinary stroke with a wooden club, 
while to get the pulled ball the right foot should be drawn back 
and the sphere should be more towards the right, or about mid- 
way between the feet. The pulled ball is always more difficult 
to obtain, and especially to control, than the sliced ball. 



>lQi 



^ 1 O 






o S 



10/) 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 6i 



XII. 
PLAYING IN A WIND. 

I should say something about playing the long game when 
a wind is blowing, which is a circumstance constantly en- 
countered. In this matter, at all events, the player of a very 
little experience may be permitted to attempt some adaptation 
of his play to the prevaihng conditions, for it is easily done, and 
involves no very great deviation from ordinary methods. In the 
hrst place, I would say that it is a very good thing to shorten 
the swing on a windy day, no matter from what point of the 
compass the wind is blowing. There is always a little tendency 
to unsteadiness when the wind is blowing strongly. The player 
is not quite so comfortable as usual, and if he shortens his swing 
he will probably achieve some extra conlidence. Moreover, I 
also recommend that when playing both up and down the wind 
the upward and downward swings should be rather slower than 
usual. I find that the effect is advantageous in both cases. 
When playing against the wind the ball always seems to me to 
bore its way better through it when hit slowly than when the 
swing has been quickly made, while with the wind the slow 
swing seems to give the ball more time to rise and get the 
advantage of what is blowing. 

In the case of cross-winds I would not advise young players 
to attempt any greater deviation from their usual game than 
is comprised in the very simple process of making a certain 



IM 



Braid "letting out at it" in his Drive, 
A characteristic finish by the Champion. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 63 

allowance for the wind in the direction in which the ball is hit, 
and when this is properly done it ought to be sufficient for 
anything. When the wind is blowing from the front against 
the player he may go so far as to stand a little more in front 
of the ball, keep his weight rather more forward, and take pains 
to hold his right shoulder well up throughout the stroke. The 
result of these slight variations from the usual course of pro- 
cedure is to keep the ball low down, for it is only a low ball, 
with a lot of driving power in it, that stands any chance of 
getting distance when the wind is coming up strongly from the 
front. In the reverse case, when you are playing down the wind 
the object is to get the ball up fairly high — not forgetting, of 
course, to get the driving power into it as well — so that the wind 
may get fairly hold of it and help it along. In this case, if 
it is a tee shot the ball may be teed a little higher than usual, 
bearing in mind that small trifles of this kind go a very long way, 
and the player may take his stance a little more to the right, 
or behind the ball, and allow his right shoulder to droop a little 
more — a proceeding, however, which must be conducted with 
the utmost caution, since dropping the right shoulder is often 
a dangerous fault in beginners, and one which they have 
difficulty in getting out of. 



64 ■Spalding^ 5 Athletic Library. 



XIII. 

BRASSEY PLAY. 

To all intents and purposes a brassey shot is simply a tee shot 
without the tee, and all that has been said about driving in the 
foregoing pages applies to play with the brassey. The object in 
each case is to drive the ball as far as possible in the direction 
of the hole, and with this in view a similar type of wooden club 
is employed both times. The only material difference is that 
whereas in the case of the tee shot the player is given everything 
in his favour and is allowed to pick and choose the place where 
he will play from and to tee up the ball exactly to his liking, 
he must in the case of the brassey shot that follows take the 
circumstances as he finds them, whether they are good or bad. 
If the tee shot was a good one the chances are that he will be 
provided with a ball lying nicely for his second shot, as he 
deserves to be, and he may count himself unlucky if he has any 
material difficulties to face in the matter of lie or stance. But if 
the least thing went wrong with the drive, or if the direction was 
not good, it might very likely happen that when the time came 
for the second shot to be played it would be found that neither 
the lie nor the stance were quite what they might be desired to 
be. So many beginners take their brassey as a matter of course 
for the second shot, if it ought to be a long one, that it may be 
timely to suggest to them that they should more frequently ask 
themselves the question when they come to the ball whether the 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 65 

lie is really one that justifies the use of the brassey, because 
if it does not the chances of failure are very great, whereas by 
sacrificing a httle distance a fair amount of success may be 
guaranteed by the use of an iron club. While you do not want 
a teed ball for play with the brassey, the lie must always be 
reasonably good, that is to say the ball must be standing fairly 
well up on the top of the turf, and there must be a clear 
approach to it for the club. If it is at all cupped, or if there 
are obstructions about it which will prevent the wooden club 
from getting quite cleanly to it, it will be far better to choose 
the iron which is best adapted to the circumstances, although 
many players are expert at manipulating their brasseys in all 
kinds of disheartening situations, as they have to be when they 
get into the higher classes of golf and are set the task of winning 
or halving holes from opponents who know every shot in the 
game, and who have had better luck with some of their strokes 
from the tee. 

A word may usefully be said about the club. The brassey is, 
or ought to be, a driver pure and simple, with only such modi- 
fications as are rendered necessary by the slightly different 
character of its work, and such as would almost suggest them- 
selves to the most inexperienced player. For example, we sole 
the club with a thin sheath of brass for its better protection and 
because the club-head then goes more smoothly and easily to 
the ball. We generally put a little more loft on to the face of the 
club because it has to do the work of picking the ball up from 
the turf, whereas the driver with its straight face had the ball 
already sitting up for it clear of the ground and only needing to 
be driven forward. Care should be taken, however, that too 
much loft is not put on the face of the brassey. A very little is 



66 Spalding's Athletic Library. 

all that is necessary, but some players with a limited experience 
whenever they find difficulty with their brassey, and particularly 
when it seems to them a very hard thing to get the ball up, come 
to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the club, 
and then they take it to the club-maker's shop and ask for a little 
more loft to be filed on to it. Not only does it generally happen 
that the trouble from which they suffered before is still as bad as 
ever, but it must be borne in mind that after all it is desired to 
get length with the brassey, and that there is no compatability 
between length and loft, so that they have materially damaged 
the driving powers of their club. A professional is in the first 
instance very unlikely to put into the hands of a player a club 
which has not got enough loft on it to get the ball up from any 
ordinary lie. Then it often happens that the face of the club 
is rather shorter than that of the driver, particularly at the 
bottom, so that it requires less room to gQi at the ball and 
encounters less obstruction in case the lie is very grassy or other- 
wise a trifle thick. I must say, however, that I am rather against 
the extremely short faces that have been put on brasseys during 
the last year or two by many makers. I don't see that they are 
necessary, and they must to some extent increase the risk of the 
stroke being a failure. Some people recommend that the brassey 
should be slightly — generally about an inch — shorter than the 
driver used by the same player ; but I cannot understand why 
they do so, and as the object is to play the stroke in the same 
way as when driving from the tee the suggestion seems opposed 
to reason. The brassey should be about the same length as the 
driver. I might add that my own brassey is the same length as 
my driver. Care must be taken that the He of the brassey 
matches that of the driver, and it is neglect of this rather 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 67 

obvious point cliat causes many of the difficulties of young 
players. They choose a driver to suit them, and then they 
select a brassey which they think is just what they want without 
ever taking the trouble to see that both have the same angles 
of lies, which they should have if the same kind of stance is to 
be adopted in each case. If this precaution is not adopted the 
player may be called upon to play a quite different game with 
his brassey from that to which he has become accustomed with 
his driver, if he is to obtain anything approximating to the same 
results, or if he does not, he is almost sure to fail altogether. 
The driver and the brassey should be perfect duplicates in this 
matter. As a final word about the club, it should usually have 
a fairly stiff shaft, as it is sometimes called upon to execute 
rather rougher work than is ever demanded of the driver. 

When he has the right kind of club in his hands the player 
in attempting a brassey shot has only to play it in the same 
way as when driving, but instead of looking at the side of the 
ball he may be recommended to keep his eyes on the grass 
immediatel}^ behind it. This should ensure his hitting the ball 
in the right place. He must get out of his mind at the very 
beginning a little idea that is very likely to get into it, which 
is that the player himself must do something considerable 
tow^ards getting the ball up from its low lie — something, that 
is, that he had not to do when driving. This idea results very 
frequently in his dipping his right shoulder and trying to 
scoop the ball up, and it is very seldom that anything Hke 
a good shot is ever made out of such attempts. The player 
must be brought to realise that his club is specially designed 
for getting the ball up, and if he takes it cleanly and properly 
the work will be well done without any further assistance. 




o 






Spalding^ s Athletic Lih-ary. 69 



PLAY WITH IRON CLUBS. 

I have devoted so much space to the play with the wooden 
clubs because the man who learns to play fairly reliably with 
them has laid the foundations of a good game, and in the 
majority of cases he will then get on pretty well with his irons, 
although they require different treatment. Still, in the main 
the principles are the same, and have only to be adapted to 
the special requirements of the different clubs and the needs 
of the situation. When one plays with the driver and the 
brassey the object generally is to get as far as possible ; but 
when the distance it is required to get is less than that which 
may be achieved by a full shot with either wooden club one 
or other of the various iron instruments is generally taken. It 
is taken into account also that when the distance is com.para- 
tively short in this way it is generally required to be more 
exact in the placing of the ball. The hole will usually be 
within reach, and it is now desired to get as near to it as pos- 
sible with a view perhaps of saving a stroke or to making the 
final stages of the short game as easy and certain as possible. 
In a word, distance is now to be sacrificed to accuracy. 

Broadly speaking there are five different classes of irons, for 
each of which there is a special use. First there is the cleek, 
with which a good player can get pretty nearly as far as with 
a brassey, and which he uses either when the distance is 



70 Spalding's Athletic Library, 

rather under that of a brassey or for a long, low approach 
of practically brassey distance, but which calls for special 
accuracy in direction. Some players carry both a cleek and 
a driving mashie in their bags, and have uses for each, but 
as a rule they are employed for the same purpose, and some 
players who find that they cannot get on well with one pla}'- 
the same kind of shot with the other. The difference is that 
the driving mashie has generally a shorter and deeper blade 
than the cleek, and is slightly heavier. It is a great favourite 
with many golfers, but those who are masters of the cleek 
have a great preference for the latter. After the cleek and 
the driving mashie comes the iron, which is one of the most 
generally useful clubs that are carried. It is used for shots 
of medium length, say from a hundred up to a hundred and 
thirty or forty yards. Its blade is fairly long and moderately 
deep, and it has some considerable loft on it, so that when 
the ball is struck it lifts it up into the air. In this way 
obstructions between the player and the green are sur- 
mounted, and the high ball does not run so much when it 
comes to the turf, so that its final resting-place can be fairly 
accurately gauged. Next there is the mashie, which is a club 
with a short and deep blade on which there is a great deal of 
loft. This club is only used for very short shots of rarely 
more than a hundred yards at the outside, and its special 
purpose is to pitch the ball high up so that it will not only 
clear aU the bunkers guarding the hole but will drop it almost 
dead on to the green without any run on it. If a short 
approach shot of this character were played with a club 
which had not so much loft on it the ball would be kept too 
low and would as a result have a lot of run on it, so that it 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 7i 

would be very difficult to play it so exactly as to guarantee 
the ball pulling up in that close proximity to the hole that is 
desired. Although the principles of play with it are very 
simple, the mashie is one of the most difficult of all clubs to 
use really well, and it is one in regard to which good play 
pays exceedingly. 

Of the remaining clubs there is the niblick, which is a very 
heavy tool with much loft on it, and which is generally 
employed for delivering the ball from sand bunkers and 
coarse, rough obstructions of all kinds into which either the 
bad play or the bad luck of the golfer has placed it, and for 
which cases the lighter and more delicate iron clubs would 
be quite useless. Some players, however, have much finer 
uses for the niblick, and find it to be a very effective club for 
making short lofted approaches, as with it the ball can be 
stopped quite dead on its reaching the green. The fifth iron 
club is the putter, which, as its name implies, is used to putt 
the ball- into the hole— the last stroke in the play at each hole 
and one which must obviously be the most delicate and exact 
of all. There are scores of kinds of putters, and some of 
them are not made of iron at all, favourite patterns being in 
aluminium or wood. 

Concerning the details of stance and swing with each of 
these clubs I shall have a little to say in due course, but, 
speaking generally, I would remark here at the outset that I 
do not favour taking a full shot with any of them unless 
special circumstances render it absolutely necessary, except 
perhaps w^ith the cleek. The iron clubs are heavier than the 
wooden ones, and are consequently more under control, and 
it will be found that with a three-quarter swing they will be 




Diagram showing the angles of loft on the faces of different club?, 
as measured on a standard set. See Chapter III. 




The black patch represents the correct place for taking turf. The 
mistake is ofl 
See page 49. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. ys 

still more under control, and there will be, or should be, a 
corresponding gain in accuracy which is all-important. By 
a three-quarter swing one means a swing in which the club 
is carried back for only about three-quarters of the distance 
that it would be taken when making a full shot with the 
driver, that is to say not so far as the horizontal. A con- 
siderable amount of practice may be needed to regulate these 
swings, but the player will come to make them with great 
accuracy if he perseveres. 

The play with all iron clubs differs from that with wooden 
ones in another important respect, which is that with them 
the stroke is always much more of a hit. I have impressed 
it on the reader that when driving the ball you do not hit it, 
but, so to speak, sweep it off its resting-place ; but when 
playing it with an iron you do hit it a sharp, sudden blow, 
and the follow-through is of much less importance than in case 
of tee and brassey shots, and is really only of any importance 
at all in so far that it shows whether the upward swing was 
properly made or not. The strongest iron players always 
make a hit pure and simple at the ball. Partly for this 
reason, and partly to gain greater accuracy of direction and 
greater control over the club the irons are gripped much more 
tightly with the right hand. Both hands hold them very 
firmly indeed, but the right hand takes the command, as it 
did not do in the case of the wooden tools. This difference 
is of the utmost importance. This may or may not be the 
chief cause of the tendency to pull with all irons that I have 
constantly noticed is the case. This tendency has always 
been rather a puzzle to me, but anyhow it is not a very 
serious matter. 




sJSijIeiiw 




..^i 



Address with the Cleek. 
See Chapter XV. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 75 

A.^ the irons have generally shorter shafts and more upright 
lies the player stands closer to his ball than when he was 
playing with his driver and brassey. Also my own stance is 
more open ; that is to say, I have my right foot a little farther 
in front of the left when addressing the ball ; but I am not sure 
that I would recommend this course of procedure to the 
beginner. He will perhaps do better work, at the outset at 
all events, if he maintains the same kind of stance with most 
of his irons as he did in the case of his driver. 

Another general feature of the play with the irons that calls 
for mention in these preliminary remarks is that in most cases 
one takes a little turf when playing the stroke. In driving the 
object is always to hit the ball as cleanly as possible, and the 
less interference the club gets from the turf the better. But 
it is not the same with the irons, and it will be found that 
in their case if the sole of the club cuts through a little piece 
of the turf when it is taking hold of the ball there is not only 
no appreciable loss in power, but a great steadying influence 
is obtained, and the ball flies more accurately. Many players, 
however, make the mistake of taking the turf too far behind 
the ball. It will take them some time to perform these delicate 
operations with any certainty of success, but when they come 
to have complete command over their clubs they will do well 
to cultivate the practice of just hitting the ball first and then 
driving the club through it, as it were, and taking a piece of 
turf from underneath it. It will be found that the flight of 
the ball is very steady when this is done. With this brief 
introduction we may pass on to the consideration of the special 
shots with each class of iron club. 



76 Spa/di/ig^s Athletic Library. 



XV. 

CLEEK SHOTS. 

For some reason many players find the cleek a most difficult 
club to play with, and after years of perseverance with it they 
give it up and refuse to carry it in their bags, consoling 
themselves with the reflection that it is not much use after 
all, and that they can do quite as well with a driving mashie 
or with a straight-faced iron. They may get very good results 
from the latter, but I am a firm believer in the cleek, and I do 
not think that any man can consider himself quite proficient 
at the game until he has obtained a certain amount of command 
over it, and plays with it regularly when it seems to be the 
proper club for the occasion. A variety of very pretty work 
can be got from the cleek as can be got from no other club, 
and I strongly advise the beginner to persevere with its use at 
the outset of his career, as if he does not he may always be 
sorry for not having done so. I have already suggested that 
the object when playing with the cleek is to get a long ball, 
perhaps a little shorter than that which would be got with the 
brassey, and as straight as it is possible to get it. Many good 
players constantly get a distance of two hundred yards with 
their cleeks, but generally a hundred and seventy or there- 
abouts is the recognised distance for this club, and it is regu- 
larly used for one-shot holes where the one shot is a full one 
and the object is to place the ball as near to the pin as possible. 



spa /ding's At hie fie Library. 77 

I should explain in passing, in case it may be necessary to any 
very inexperienced reader, that a one-shot hole means a hole 
which is meant to be reached with one shot from the tee, and 
at which the player ought to hole out in 3 (allowing two putts), 
or with a little luck in 2. A 4 at such a hole represents bad 
play. 

The cleek should be not more than an inch or two shorter 
than the driver, and this similarity in length tends to induce 
a certain amount of similarity in playing with it. Take your 
stance just so much nearer to the ball as is necessitated by this 
shorter club, so that when you are addressing you feel the 
same amount of comfort and confidence, and generally feel 
that you are able to do much the same kind of shot. As I 
have said, in my own play I advance the right foot a little, 
but I do not advise young players to begin with variations of 
this kind. If they find they can do better with them, well and 
good. Grip the club hrmly with both hands. 

In the upward swing the same directions should be observed 
as when driving. Let the wrists begin the swing, go up slowly, 
keep the right elbow in, and so forth, and it is just as important 
as ever that the body should turn on its own axis, that the 
head should be kept quite still, and that the eyes should be 
riveted on to the ball. The player must be careful not to 
swing the club too far away from the body, or he will find 
that the result is to cut or slice the ball, and a very Httle cut 
has a large effect in playing with clubs of this kind. It goes 
without saying that the left foot pivots and the left knee bends 
in the same way as when driving, but as the swing is rather 
shorter and more restricted they do not do so to quite the same 
extent. For even a full cleek shot the club should not be taken 




Finish of Swing for a Full Cleek Shot. 
See Chapter XV. 



Spalding'' s Athletic Library 79 

so far back as to make the shaft horizontal, that is to say at 
the top of the swing the blade of the cleek should be rather 
higher than the hands. If it goes any farther than that there 
will be a considerable loss of control. Come down in the same 
way as with the driver, but tighten the wrists a Httle more at 
the time of impact — a proceeding which will be natural if it 
is remembered that the ball is to be hit instead of swept from 
the place where it rests. At the same time a warning must 
be given against overdoing this hit and making a stab or jerk 
of it, which is a fault from which many players suffer. When 
the ball is jerked from its lie there can be no sort of control 
over it, and the distance cannot be obtained. After impact 
the club may be allowed to finish in its own way so long as 
the hands and arms are kept well out so as to avoid cutting. 
The finish will be long or short according to the length of the 
backward swing. 

Besides the full shot with the cleek there is the three-quarter, 
and while this may be carried out in the same way there is an 
adaptation of it which I have found to be very useful when 
playing against the wind. In this case I play with a more 
open stance, placing the right foot considerably nearer to the 
ball than the left. The weight is rather more on the left foot 
than the right, and the hands are held slightly forward, in front 
of the head of the club 

In the upward swing the wrists and forearms are kept rather 
stiffcr than in the playing of other shots. The former do not 
turn so much, and the left elbow is kept rather straighter, so 
that when the club is at the top of the swing it is found that 
the hands are farther away from the body than when a full 
shot was being made with either the driver or the cleek. Less 



8o Spalding's Athletic Library. 

bend is also allowed to the left knee, and there is not nearly 
so much pivoting on the left toe as in other cases. On the 
other hand, the right knee stiffens itself more, and the body 
is held more rigidly. The whole attitude is stiff er than usual, 
and it continues to be so to the finish of the stroke. The wrists 
and forearms bring down the club ; and, as in the address, the 
hands are slightly in front of the blade at the time of impact, 
both wrists and forearms being as stiff as they can be made 
at this moment. After impact the right hand turns over some- 
what, and an effort is made to carry the club through as close 
to the turf as is possible, following exactly the line of flight 
of the ball. This is my variation of a shot which in one form 
or another is played by most of the leading professionals, and 
one which they find extremely useful in many emergencies. 
It is a shot that is generally only played in fairly advanced 
golf, and I would recommend all beginners to leave these 
refinements of the game severely alone until they have mastered 
the more elementary shots. At the same time this is one which 
will be extremely useful to them when they have got fairly 
going, and then they may take an early opportunity of prac- 
tising it. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 8i 



XVI. 

THE IRON. 

With many players the iron is a very favourite club, and 
one which in their hands is made to serve all kinds of useful 
purposes. Moreover, it is true that the approaching distance 
for which the iron is specially suited is constantly being pre- 
sented in the course of a round of the links, and, taking it 
all round, it has to be admitted that the iron is one of the 
most valuable occupants of the golfer's bag. It is certainly 
a beginner's club, because play with it is not generally found 
so difficult as that with either the cleek or the mashie, and it 
is probably the first of the iron clubs with which the 3^oung 
golfer exhibits any sign of proficiency. Therefore he will do 
well to give it special attention at the outset. I say this, 
although it is often found that the more a man gets on in 
the game the less does he require his iron, often because he 
finds its work a little too crude and too inexact for his liking. 
He frequently gets the same result in a better way from other 
clubs. I myself have no particular fondness for the iron, 
and it is very seldom that I play a full ordinary shot with it. 
When the distance seems to call for such a shot I generally 
prefer to take my cleek and play an easy half-shot with that, 
finding that when I do so I can keep a much straighter ball 
than when I have to make a full swing with the less powerful 
club. However, the beginner would not be well advised to 





1 



Top of Swing for a Full Iron Shot. 
See Chapter XVI. 



1 



Finish of a Full Iron Shot. 
See Chapter XVI. 



84 Spaldt?2g^s Athletic Library. 

try experiments with half-swings at the outset, and therefore 
he may be recommended to give careful study to the play 
with the club under discussion. 

When he has learned to play his cleek shots he will have no 
particular difficulty with the iron, for it is used in a very similar 
manner. As the shaft of the club is shorter it will usually be 
necessary to stand a little nearer to the ball, and in the case of 
this shot it is also better to take a more open stance, that is to 
play with the right foot a little nearer to the ball than in the 
case of the shots that have already been described. Apart from 
this, the feet should be placed so that the ball is nearer to the 
line of the right heel. 

Grip the club very tightly, and make the upward swing in the 
same manner as with the full shot with the cleek, taking care 
not to prolong the upward movement too far. In all shots of this 
kind a short swing is much better and much more reliable than a 
long one. The stroke is a hit stroke, as with other iron clubs, and 
this is to be remembered when coming down on to the ball so 
that the wrists are stiffened and prepared for the sharp impact. 
After the ball has gone I finish the stroke with the hands well up 
and the club turned round to the back, though it is not essential 
that this should be done. It merely shows that the stroke has 
been cleanly and freely made. At the finish of the stroke, 
according to the Vv-ay in which I make it myself, the player 
should be entirely on his left leg with the right foot on its toe, 
and, as in the case of most other full shots, his body should have 
come round so that it is now facing the hole. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 85 



XVII. 

THE RUNNING-UP SHOT. 

The iron is also very frequently used for another and entirely 
different kind of stroke, that is to say a short running-up 
approach of anything up to fifty or sixty yards. On most 
courses there is usually a more or less formidable bunker 
guarding the green, and when this is the case and the golfer is 
approaching the hole from short range the bunker becomes a 
serious matter for consideration. The only shot that is possible 
in the circumstances is a lofted shot, and the proper thing to do 
this with is the mashie, as will be described shortly. But it 
sometimes happens that there is either no bunker, or that the 
previous shot has just cleared it but has still left a fair amount of 
ground to be covered before the pin is reached. Many players 
in these days have got so accustomed to the belief that the 
mashie is the only thing to do any kind of approach work with 
that they still use it in circumstances of this kind ; but a 
running-up shot with a less lofted club is far preferable and, 
executed by a man who knows what he is doing, is likely to give 
far better results. There is a much better chance of laying the 
ball near to the hole when running-up than when pitching with 
the mashie, and it is a shot which gives scope for any amount of 
skill, so that the tendency in these days is to make holes with 
fewer bunkers in front of them so as to give more opportunities 
for this running-up 



86 Spalding's Athletic Library 

The object of the stroke is just to Hft the ball clear of the 
ground until the putting green is reached, or nearl}^, and then 
to let it drop there and finish with a little run up to the pin. It 
is obvious that for this purpose very little loft is needed on the 
club, and indeed the less there is on it the better, so that while 
the iron is often used — perhaps more generally so than any 
other club — many players get better results and are able to 
gauge the shot with much more accuracy by using a club 
with a straighter blade, such as a straight-faced iron, which 
they may carry in their bags, or even a cleek. The method 
of making the stroke is very simple. 

TIt^ player must stand very straight up and take a firm and 
fairly open stance, with the ball rather more in a line with the 
right heel than usual. The swing will be a very short affair, 
since very little propulsion is necessary in order to make the ball 
travel such a short distance. Exactly what length of swing to 
give will naturally vary with the distance to be traversed, and 
the player must be left to find out in practice what swing to give 
for each particular shot, and need only be recommended always 
to try to get his distance exactly by-swinging exactly instead of 
by swinging almost the same distance each time and regulating 
the force that he puts into the stroke. In a general way it will 
be found that even for a fairly long run up it will not be 
necessary to swing the blade of the club more than elbow high ; 
and, this being so, the body should be kept very stiff and steady, 
and the left knee should bend m towards the right but a very 
little, the heel scarcely coming off the ground. In finishing the 
stroke the wrists should be kept fairly stiff, and after impact the 
right hand should turn over slightly while the head of the club 
should sweep along close to the ground and finish low down 



Spalding^s Athletic Library. 87 

pointing to the hole. Of course for a shot of this character no 
turf is to be taken. The ball should be hit as cleanly and 
accurately as possible, and the player must guard against a 
tendency that will assert itself to look up towards the hole before 
he has actually struck the ball ; in fact, the rule about keeping the 
eye on the ball has to be insisted upon more than ever when the 
short game is being played, because it is then that it is most 
commonly broken. In many respects this delicate running-up 
shot is a miniature of the three-quarter forcing shot with the 
cleek as already described. 









Addi 



ess [or Apiatj.ich Stroke willi Alashie. 
See Chapter XVIII. 



Spalding'' s Athletic Library. 89 



XVIII. 
THE MASHIE. 

This is a club that generally gives the young golfer a good 
deal of trouble, though there is no great reason why it should 
do so, and the cause as a rule is merely over-anxiety. The hole 
is close at hand, and there is commonly a hazard of some 
kind intervening which will catch the ball if the least thing 
goes wrong, and thus spoil the whole of what may have been 
very good play up to that point. I need say no more con- 
cerning the club than that it should have a fair amount of 
weight in it, and should have a strong shaft in which there 
must be no tendency to whip. Spring in the shaft is all very 
well in the case of some clubs, but it is quite out of place in 
a mashie. There are many different patterns of blades, and 
it is not much use recommending any particular one of them 
to the player, because as soon as he gets on in the game he 
is almost certain to exhibit a preference of his own in this 
respect. However, one may recommend him not to overdo 
the loft on his club, as, however much it may be necessary 
to get the ball up, it must not be forgotten that it is also 
necessary to take well hold of it, and there may be a difficulty 
in doing this when the face of the club is laid back at too 
great an angle. 

There are generally understood to be two kinds of shots 
with the mashie — a very full mashie which is similar to an iron 



go Spaldmg^s Athletic Library, 

shot, and only differs from it in that the ball is carried a 
shorter distance and goes up higher, so that it comes down 
with less run — all this being mostly due to the club — and the 
short-pitching shot, in which the ball is just lifted straight 
up into the air to come down again a very little distance in 
front with next to no run on it. The former may be employed 
when the ball is somewhere about eighty yards from the hole, 
and the latter usually comes in most frequently at about forty 
or fifty. In reality there is not much difference between the 
strokes except in degree — that is to say in the length of the 
swing and consequently the force with which the ball is hit. 

The stance for the mashie shot differs slightly from that 
which was taken in the case of the iron. It should always 
be very open, and the right foot is consequently well advanced, 
while the ball is placed in a line about midway between the 
feet. For my own part I believe in holding the hands very 
low down — at practically the full stretch of the arms — so that 
the heel of the club is on the turf and the toe is slightly 
raised. This course of procedure seems to help the club to 
get under the ball better. At the same time the player should 
stand very close to the ball, and he should grip the club very 
tightly. It is essential that throughout this stroke he should 
have a very firm grip. 

In making the upward swing it has to be borne in mind 
that as it is required to pitch the ball up, and as one of 
the means of doing this is to come down very straight on to 
it, the club should be carried very straight up when it is 
being taken away from the ball. The best way of doing this, 
and at the same time of preserving that semi-rigidity which 
is essential to good mashie play, is to allow the wrists and 



Spalding^s Athietic Library. 



91 



forearms to do nearly all the work ; and this is generally 
recognised to be the proper method. The arms are allowed 
to bend slightly from the elbows, and the right elbow is kept 
well in to the body. While there should be a fair amount of 
slackness and play in the legs to begin with, the knees being 
allowed to bend considerably, there should be very little move- 
ment in either feet or legs while the stroke is being made. 
The left knee may bend in very slightly towards the right 
toe, but the heel should scarcely be raised from the ground, 
and there should be nothing in the nature of pivoting. In this 
.way the body will not be allowed to turn very much, and it 
is important that it should not be allowed to do so. The 
more rigidly it is held the better. As for the distance to 
which the club is taken back, this must necessarily depend 
on the length of the shot which it is required to make, but it 
should be very seldom necessary when using the mashie to 
go much be3^ond the perpendicular, and when a player does 
so he is probably asking rather more of the club than he 
ought to do. 

As usual the downward swing is a repetition of the upward 
one, and there is little to say about it that will not be evident 
to the player by this time. He must take care to carry the 
club well through in the direction of the hole, and not to hug 
it in towards him just after impact — a fault which is very 
much in evidence with some players and which completely 
ruins the shot. In finishing one does not allow the body to 
turn round towards the hole quite so much as with other shots 
with iron clubs, and consequently the right knee does not 
turn in so much. The club should finish about as high up 
as it was taken in the backward swing. It is of great im- 



Finish of Approach Shot with the Mashie. 
See Chapter XVIII. 



Spalding^s Athletic Library. 93 

portance to impress upon the young golfer who is not 
thoroughly acquainted with mashie play that it is not neces- 
sary for him to do anything in particular except obey the 
simple instruction for swinging the club as here laid down 
in order to make the ball pitch up in the required manner. 
If the club is swung properly the loft on its face will get the 
ball up quite sufficiently for any purpose, and when the 
player gets trying to assist the club in this direction bv 
wriggling his hands about when making the stroke and 
endeavouring in some peculiar manner to jerk the ball up 
there is sure to be trouble. In itself mashie play is not so 
very difficult after all, but many players contrive to make it so. 
There are one or two other kinds of approach shots, chiefly 
that in which a little cut is applied to the mashie stroke in 
order to make the ball stop more dead than usual when it 
alights on the green, but the beginner had better not attempt 
them. They are not easy, and it will be quite time enough 
for him to try his skill at this sort of thing when he has had 
at least a year or two's practice. Besides they are not often 
wanted. Remember that with all mashie shots a little turf 
should always be taken. It is next to impossible to play them 
well without, but the turf must be taken at the right tims 
and in the right place. 




stance and Address for Bunker Stroke with Nibhck. 
See Chapter XIX. 



Spalding^s Athletic Library. 95 



XIX. 

THE NIBLICK. 

This is a heavy club with a deep face and much laid back 
for the special purpose of making the ball rise very quickly 
over some obstruction immediately in front. The use to 
which the niblick is most frequently applied is to get the 
player out of bunkers and other difficult places to which his 
bad shots have taken him, and as a rule it is about the only 
club that is practicable in the circumstances. The golfer 
should make a point, however, of asking himself when he has 
got into a bunker whether any other club than the niblick 
is possible in the situation that is presented. Some players 
get so much into the habit of taking their niblick quite 
mechanically when in bunkers that they miss many good 
opportunities of making far better recoveries than is possible 
with it, for it occasionally happens that the ball is lying quite 
well and at a fair distance from the face of a low bunker, in 
which circumstances it might be quite easy to get in a good 
shot with a mashie, or even now and then with an iron or 
driving mashie. However, while pointing out this possibility, 
it is never to be forgotten that after all the first thing to be 
thought of when one has got into a bunker is to make sure 
of getting out in one stroke, and therefore a club should 
never be taken which the player is not quite certain is equal 
to the task in hand. 



S/>a/dmg's Athletic Lib7'ary. 97 

The method of playing the niblick for a bunker shot i? 
very similar to that of the mashie. It will often happen that 
the player has not very much choice in the matter of stance, 
and will at times have to put up with some very unorthodox 
positions ; but when he has as much choice as he wants, he 
will take a medium open stance and have the ball fairly well 
towards his right foot. In the upward swing he should hold 
the club very tightly and take it up very straight and rather 
high. In the case of this shot he must not keep his eyes on 
the ball during the swing, but on the sand an inch or so 
behind it, and lie must bring the club down on to this place 
in the sand so that it will drive its way through it and under- 
neath the ball, giving it such a lift up as would be possible in 
no other way. Generally whv;n a ball is played out of a 
bunker in this w^ay the club does not even touch it. There 
need be no attempt to finish the stroke, which naturally comes 
to an end when the club is ploughing its way through the 
sand underneath the ball. The player may be recommended 
not to lose sight of any advantage that is to be gained by 
playing the ball at an angle across the face of the bunker 
instead of straight in front. When this can be done it will 
be seen that the shot is rendered much less difficult through 
its not being necessary to make the ball rise so quickly, and 
the player, may be spared the exasperation of seeing the ball 
rise to witjiin an inch of the top of the bunker, but then hit 
it and come flopping back into the sand very probably in a 
worse lie than before. Bunker shots are worth far more 
practice than is given to them. No player is ever so perfect 
that he does not get into bunkers sometimes, and it will be 
an enormous gain to him if he cultivates the power of getting 




M ; 1^ '. . >\ i.h ilic Xiblick. 
See Chapter XIX, 





Finish of Approach with Niblick. 
See Chapter XI:N , 



100 Spalding^s Athletic Library. 

well out of them in one shot when these misfortunes occur 
to him. 

Although the average player so seldom thinks of them, there 
are other uses for the niblick besides bunker shots, and one of 
them is for short approaches to which it is desired to apply a 
considerable amount of loft and when it is necessary to stop the 
ball very dead indeed, as soon as it comes down to the turf. 
For this kind of work the heavy head of the niblick with its 
large amount of loft is very well suited, and in the hands of some 
players some perfectly marvellous work can be got out of it. In 
many respects the niblick shot played in this way fulfils all the 
functions of the cut mashie. For some time past I have been 
using a niblick with an unusually large face, which I find better 
than the ordinary nibhcks for all purposes. 



Spalding's Athletic Library. 



lO] 



XX. 

PUTTING. 

It happens, unfortunately, that concerning one department of 
the game that will cause the golfer some anxiety from time to 
time, and often more when he is experienced than when he is 
not, neither I nor any other player can offer any words of 
instruction such as, if closely acted upon, would give the same 
successful results as the advice tendered under other heads 
ought to do. This is in regard to putting. 

In one respect putting is the simplest thing in golf, inasmuch 
as there is no complicated swing to make and to be continually 
getting out of order ; but, as everybody of experience knows, the 
making of the final strokes on the putting green in the endeavour 
to get the Httle white ball into the hole at last, is the most 
difficult and trying task imaginable, and the one which is most 
constantly disappointing. It is impossible to tell a man what to 
do in order to putt the ball into the hole. He must find out for 
himself, and make himself into as good a putter as he can by 
constant practice. ;Much may be done by this constant practice, 
and bad putters have been turned into good ones ; but really 
great putters are probably born and not made, and some 
astonishing results have been obtained by the veriest beginners. 
It is quite possible that many people may putt better in the early 
part of their experience than later on, for they may think it 



r 




Braid's Stance and Address when Putting. 
See Chapter XX. 



Spalding'' s Athletic Library. 103 

easier than it really is, and thus have plenty of confidence, and 

there is nothing like confidence in putting. 

However, while one cannot tell a player how exactly to putt a 

ball into the hole from any given distance, and while also it 

would be unwise to direct him to take any particular stance for 

putting, believing that the man is best off in this department 

who does things in that way which comes most natural to him 

and in which he is most comfortable, there are certain general 

principles which it would be very dangerous and possibly 

disastrous to disobey, and which may be mentioned here.- In 

the first place, putting is an extremely delicate operation, and 

calls for the most careful gauging of strength and direction in 

the stroke. This being so, it is obvious that if the body moves 

in the least the whole of the deHcate calculation must necessarily 

be upset, and really fine putting be made an impossibility. 

Therefore the body must be kept absolutely still, and the head 

also quite motionless - Generally it must be done by the hands 

and wrists only, and the right hand is the one to putt with, the 

I 
other merely holding and steadying the club. It is palpably 

necessary that the very utmost steadiness in swinging the club 

must be constantly displayed. Nervous, shaky, wobbly taps are 

useless. 

Also, the stroke must be a smooth and easy one, just as much 

so as any other stroke in the game, and the player must guard 

against getting into the habit of stabbing his ball. This is a 

common mistake ; but when it is made the regulation of 

strength and direction is most difficult. The club must be 

brought on to the ball in a nice even sweep, and it should 

follow-through properly. As in other strokes the swing should 

be regulated precisely according to the distance to which it. 




o 



% ^ 

o5 CO 

oT 

o 
u 

00 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 105 

is desired to putt the ball. A great deal depends on hitting 
the ball quite truly on the proper place on the club, and to 
ensure this, care must be taken to keep the eye on the ball 
until the stroke has been made. The tendency to take it off 
and look up at the hole before the ball has been started on 
its journey is greater in the case of putting than anything 
else, and it is fatal every time. 

As to stance, I my»elf think there is a great deal to be said for 
a very open stance, and this is one with which I play, having 
the ball nearly opposite my right toe ; but I would hesitate to lay 
down any definite rule in the matter. The beginner may be 
left to experiment for himself. Also he may be left to experi- 
ment with putters, as it is in the farthest degree unlikely that he 
will be satisfied with the first one that he buys. He will think 
that he will be able to putt better and save more holes if he buys 
a new one, and this may happen several times before he has a 
real favourite of his own. I might hint again, however, that I 
think there is something to be said for having one kind of putter 
to run up with and another for holing out from a short distance. 
The importance of making a most careful study of the line of 
every putt cannot be too strongly impressed upon the player. If 
there are undulations of the green to be dealt with they cannot 
be considered too carefully or the calculations made too exactly, 
for the ball is exceedingly sensitive to them. It is sometimes 
even necessary to make wide allowances for undulations that are 
scarcely perceptible, and this is specially the case when greens 
are fast. There is a wise maxim " Never up, never in," and it 
may only be added that it is better to be a foot beyond the hole 
than six inches on the near side of it. 



io6 Spalding's Athletic Library, 

XXI. 

PLAYING THE ROUND. 

We have thus made a short study of all the leading strokes 
in the game, and by the time the player is able to make them 
with any kind of complete knowledge as to how they should 
all be done, even if he cannot make them properly, he will 
be playing his rounds against opponents, and ought to be a 
constantly improving golfer. 

In regard to playing a round as a whole there are one or 
two points that it may be wise to mention here. To play the 
ball from the tee to the hole is never quite such a simple 
business as it looks if it is to be done properly and the hole 
won or halved with an opponent. The player will find it to 
be necessary to play with his head all the time, and one of 
the first things that he will have to learn, and one which he 
will find of use all through his career is when to take risks 
and when not to. The mere beginner should never take 
risks, that is to say he should never attempt shots which he 
imagines may be beyond his powers, because he will be doing 
much to spoil the style he is forming for himself and get 
himself into very bad habits. Let him content himself with 
making the shots in an easy and comfortable way, and being 
as certain about them as he can be. 

But the time will come when the question will present 
itself acutely to him as to whether he shall attempt a shot 
which he thinks is quite likely to fail, in the hope of gaining 



Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 107 

some great advantage if it comes off. In these circumstances 
it is simply a question of profit and loss, and the player must 
make a careful calculation as to which is, on the whole, the 
more profitable policy. It may happen that a very desperate 
-hot is the only one to save the match ; in that case it is the 
obvious duty of the player to go for it. If a man is two down 
with three to play, he must take risks with nearly every 
^t^oke ; but if he is two up with three to play he must risk 
nothing. Again, if his opponent has played the odd or two 
more, he himself will naturally play a safer game than if he 
were the party playing the odd or two more. In any case no 
stroke should ever be made without a full consideration of 
all the various contingencies that are possible. Heedless, 
haphazard players never get on in the game. 

They may not find it an easy thing to arrange, but whenever 
possible the young player should strive to arrange his match 
with better players than himself. He may not win so many 
of them ; .but they will do his game a lot of good, and will 
pull him out as nothing else will. He should be chary of 
accepting advice from players who are not much better 
than himself ; but from really good golfers he may learn 
much, and he should always be very observant, for probably 
more players have learned to play a very fine game through 
watching others play it than in any other way. Until he has 
got very far advanced the player should from time to time 
take a lesson from his original tutor, who will often cure him 
of faults into which he is dropping, perhaps unconsciously, 
and give him some new hint which in his then state of 
experience will be very timely and valuable. He will find it 
very good practice to go out occasionally with only one club, 



io8 Spalding^ s Athletic Library. 

that one being one with which he has a lot of trouble. He 
will discover that he can do more in the way of breaking 
himself into it in one hour in this way than he would do in 
a month by simply using the club when it came to its turn 
in ordinary match play. 

Finally, let me recommend the young player to obtain the 
fullest knowledge of the rules of the game and of its etiquette, 
so that he may never be in ignorance of the former and never 
be guilty of a breach of the latter, which is the worst fault 
a golfer can commit. He will soon learn that it is his first 
duty to replace the turf which is cut out in the act of playing, 
and he must realise that it is not enough merely to throvv' the 
turf down on the spot from where it was cut. The object of 
replacing is not to cover up the gash made, but to give the 
turf a chance to grow again, as it will do if properly laid back. 
The operation should therefore be performed carefully, and 
the turf properly and thoroughly patted back into its place 
with the foot. The etiquette of golf simply consists in showing 
a proper regard for the convenience and pleasure of others, 
and therefore for the good of the game. There are many ways 
in which this may be done, and in which alas ! it is too often 
left undone. For example, when a player has visited a bunker 
and made large marks in the sand with his heels or his club, 
it behoves him to fill them up carefully and rake the sand 
with his club before going on. If he does not, some other 
player's ball may be penalised most cruelly and unfairly by 
going into those heel or club marks. 

If the golfer always does to others as he would be done by 
he will find his life on the links very much pleasanter than 
it would be otherwise. 



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and light hitters 
generally, w^ a t e r 
holes, and the ac- 
curate "holding" 
of greens or short 
holes. 



SPALDING WITCH 

REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. 

Sinks in water. Moderately heavy weight. . Per dozen, $9.00 





SPALDING DOMINO BRAMBLE SPALDING DOMINO DIMPLE 



REG. U. S PAT. OFF. 



lEG. U. S. PAT. OFF. 



Sinks in water. Heavy weight. Floats in water. Very light weight. 

Per dozen, $8.00 Per dozen, $9.00 

We can also furnish any Rubber Cored Golf Balls made under the 

Haskell Patent. 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO I 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 

ADDRESSED TO US 



A. G. SPALDING' &, BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST OF STORES 

SEE INSIDE FRONT COVER 

OF THIS BOOK 



Prices in effect January 5, 1912. Subject to change without notice. For Canadian prices see special Canadian Catalogue 



THE SPALDINGlJiDTRADEMARK 



QUALITY 



SpaMinig C^,D Golf Balls 

"Dimple" marking controlled by A. G. Spalding & Bros., under patent dated February 4, 1 908 
LIGHT — For moderate hitters, soft turf conditions, water holes. 
HEAVY — For distance players and long roll, hard turf, use in wind, steadi- 
ness on greens. 

^^^^"^^'^^ ^^^---^^-^ 






SPALDING RED DOT SPALDING DOMINO DIMPLE 

REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. 

Floats. Lightweight. Dozen, $6.00 Sinks. Heavy Weight. Dozen, $9.00 






'\ 



G 



O 





SPALDING GLORY BRAMBLE SPALDING GLORY DIMPLE 

REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. rEG. U. S. PAT. OFF. 

Red, White and Blue dot. Red, White and Blue dot. 

Floats. Lightweight. Dozen. $8.00 Floats. Light Weight. Dozen, $9.00 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO I 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 

ADDRESSED TO US 



A. G.SPALDING &, BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST OF ST08ES 

SEE INSIDE FRONT COVER 
I OF THIS BOOK 



■ 5, I9I2. Subject to change without notice. For Canadian prices see special Canadian Catalogi 



aayE THE SPALDING 




Golfing Gloves 

No. Gl. Best quality soft white chamois, open knuckles, 
perforated back Per pair, $2.00 

No. G2. Fine soft tanned chamois, open knuckles, perfo- 
rated back Per pair, $1.75 

No. 200. Best quality brown leather palms and tips ; backs 
of lisle thread Per pair, $2.00 

No. G2L. Quality as No. G2, for left hand only, with 
reinforced palm . Each, $1.00 

No. G3. Fingerless, palms reinforced, perforated backs. 

Per pair, $1.00 

NoC G4. Fingerless, for left hand. ..... Each, 50c. 

Sure Grip 

Will not soil the hands and insures a firm grip. Per box, 25c. 

Seccomb Grip Winder 

No. S. Grip of rubber fabric. Can be put over regular 
grip Per grip, 15c 

Rubber Grips 

No. 6. Corrugated grip, of Para rubber. Provides a firm 
and perfect grip Each, 50c 

Rubber Discs for Golf and Outing Shoes 

No. 9. Qijickly attached to any shoe and absolutely pre- 
vent slipping Each, 7c 

Way's Golf Studs 

Highly tempered steel. Screwed to sole and heel. Will 
always insure a firm footing. 

No. 11. Stud with screw Each, 10c 

No. lis. Set of 12 Complete, 75c 

No. W. Aluminum. . . Dozen, 15c. 

No. MK. Iron. .... " 10c 

Golf Calks 

No. G. ^4-incR screw, >^-inch head. Box of 50, complete 
with wrench for attaching ^50c. 

Dozen calks without wrench. . . 15c. 

No. OO. 5-16-inch screw, 5.32-inch head. Box of 50, 
complete with wrench for attaching 50c 

Dozen calks without wrench 15c. 

Adjustable Tee Mold 

No. W, Makes Tees ^g. Yz and 5^ inch high. Weight, 
■^ oz. With extra spring Each. 50c. 

Rubber Golf Tee 

No. 3. Good quality. Regulation style. Red rubber. Ea., 5c 

Anchor Golf Tee (Cannot Be Lost) 

No. 5. Can only move the length of the string, which is 

about nine inches Each, 15c 



Hob Nails 



Spalding "Simplex" Golf Ball Marker 

(Patented in United States and Great Britain) 

No. 1. Impresses initials, but does not injure the ball. 

Marking being below surface it will not wear off, and 

will retciin pencil, ink or other coloring. Burnished brass. 

Each, $2.00 
Price includes player's initials. Special letters or designs 
may be obtained promptly at reasonable additional charge. 
Prices on application. 



Glossy Golf Paint 



leadi: 



mg 



Used exclusively on the best golf balls by the 
makers in the United States and Great Britain. 

'/i Pint can ... Each, 50c. 

% Pint can. " 25c 

Golf White 

No. 8. Dries instantly. Will not chip, crack or wear off. 
Furnished in white or red Per bottle, 15c 

Spalding Golf Ball Holder 

For Painting Balls 

No. S. Spring v*fire, with points that grip the ball while it 
is being painted . . . i .• Each, 15c 

Ball Cleaners 

No. 30. Rubber Pouch, with sponge. . . . Each, 35c. 

No. 27. Rubber Pouch, with sponge and brush. " 50c. 

No. 50. Double pouch of rubber, with special felt inside, 

to be saturated Each, 50c 

Club Polisher 

No. 1040. Will clean^and polish iron clubs bett 
quicker than anything yet introduced. . . . Eac 

Emery Cloth Cleaner 

No. E. Book of- 1 5 sheets Emery Cloth for cleaning Clubs 



:r and 
h, 10c 



Score Sheets 

L. Large, match and medal play. 



Each, 20c. 



Each, 15c 



Liberty Golf Counters 

No. 2. Ladies', Genuine Pigskin Each, $1.50 

No. 15. Ladies', Black Seal Gram " 1.00 

No. 26. Gents', Black Seal Grain " 1.00 

No. 25. Gents', Genuine Pigskin " 1.00 



Renewable Fillers. 



.15 



'.lOMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 

ADDRESSED TO US 



A. G. SPALDING & BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOfi COMPLEIE LIST OF STORES 

SEE INSIDl FRONT COVER 

OF THIS BOOK 



Prices in effect January 5, 1912. Subject to change without 



special Canadian Catalogs 



sSbsSTHE SRALDING(ii))TRADE-MARK '"Z^f 




No"25 _ '•J'" yt-i^ 

'^^^"^-^.J^" <^~ No 13 p i-N^' 



Spalding Marking Discs 

Metal Discs, painted red and white and numbered 1 to 18, to 

designate the number of liole. The iron shaft is strongly fsistened 

to disc and about four feet long. 

No. 3. Heart shape Each, 

No. 4. Oblong shape 

No. 5. Pear shape, hollow " 

No. 6. Windmill, four flanges • 

Spalding Direction and Marking Flags 

Colors: Red, White, Red and While, Blue and White, or any other 
combination of colors. 

No. 9. Flags only, oblong shape Each, 40c. 

No. 11. Flags only, triangle shape " 40c. 

Spalding Marking Flags 

Red out, numbered from 1 to 9, White in, numbered from 10 to 16. 
No. 2. Flags only, numbered as ordered. . . Each, 50c. 
No. 5. Spear head-staffs, 7 feet. ..... " 50c. 

Spalding "Cherokee" Golf Ball Washer 

(patent applied for) 
Takes everything off but the paint. Should be at every tee 
of a well appointed course. Now used on the more promi- 
nent courses Each, $6.00 

Golf Ball Racks 

Useful on much frequented courses. With this rack each 
player or one player in a party drops his ball in the rack 
when he arrives, his relative position being determined by 
the position of the ball in the rack. Substantially made of 
iron, heavily japanned 

No 1. To hold 36 balls Each, $10.00 

No. 2. To hold 48 balls " 12.00 

No. 3. To hold 72 balls " 15.00 

Spalding Steel Hole Cutters 

No. 10. The earth is ejected when withdrawn from hole, 
a« shown in cut. Simple and efficient and made of best 
quality steel Each, $3.50 

No. 85. For removing patches of weed by taking out circu- 
lar sod, and replacing with good turf. Larger in diameter 
than No. 10, but does not cut quite as deep. Elach, 

Special Knife Turf Cutter 

No XX. Knives may be adjusted to cut patches of turf 
of different sizes. Complete with special shaped sod 
lifter Each, $6.00 



The Midlothian Golf Hole Rim (Patented) 

No. 25. Solid iron casting, one piece. Prevents the hole 
from being racked- by the weight of the hole disc or flag 
which is kept always in an upright position. Each, 

Spalding Iron Hole Rims 

No. 20. For lining holes in putting green. The cross-piece 
prevents ball from falling to bottom of hole. Each, 40c. 

Spalding Hole Rim Setter 

No. 6. For setting the hole rim and leveling edges around 
same , Each, $1.25 

Spalding Numbered Metal Badges for Caddies 

No. 1. With safety pin on back to fasten to cap or breast. 

Each, 35c. 

Spalding Teeing Disc 

No. RB. Made with composition golf ball top. White 
enameled. Used on most prominent courses. Pair, $1.00 

Spalding Teeing Plates 

No. 8. Round metal plate to lie flush with ground.- Pair, 

Spalding Putting Disc 

No. 1. Used to train eye in putting. Good for indoor 
practice. . . '. - .. Each, 25c. 

Clock Golf 

For practice in putting nothing excels this game. The fig- 
ures are arranged in a circle from 20 to 24 feet in diameter, 

or any size that the lawn will admit. 
No. 1. With raised figures, black, on white teeing plates. 

Will not injure lawn Set, 

No. 2. Plain cut-out figures, painted white, not on plates. 

Set, $5.00 
No. 3. Portable set, complete in canvas cover " 3.00 

Eureka Golf Driving Net 

No. X. For practising, especially iron approach shots. 
May be put up almost anywhere. Complete, with differ- 
ent colored pockets in net, necessary uprights, etc. 

* Each, $7.50 

Parachute Golf Ball 

No. 1. For practising, driving, and all golf strokes in a 
limited area. The parachute prevents, the ball from travel- 
ing very far . . Complete, 75c. 

Spalding Game of Golfette 

No. 13. The object is to loft ball into center net for high- 
est count, the other nets counting less. Use regular club 
and ball Each. 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO 

ANT COMMUNICATIONS 
ADDRESSED TO US 



A. G.SPALDING &. BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPUTE LIST OF STORES 

SEE INSIDE FRONT COVER 

OF THIS BOOK 



Prices in effect January 5, 1912. Subject to change without notice. For Canadian price* see special Canadian Catalogue 



SaUHE Sf^LDINGjgjfRADE^MARK ^Slv 




J^o 



L5H 



SPFri4r SEHEU OFFSET 
lEATHER BOTTOM USED ON 
All SPALDING CADDY BAGS. 
EXCEPT NOS. C2. C3 AND 
10. MORE THAN TRIPIINC 
ORDINARY LIFE OF BAG. 




No. L3 



No,WI 



We use in our canvas bags the heaviest and best grade of duck suitable for the purpose. In our leather bags 

we use solid leather, and not thin strips glued together. All our handles are made to conform to a man's grip 

and are guaranteed not to break at the bend. All the bottoms are studded and double sewn on our own patented 

machines. Stiff leather bags put up in individual pasteboard boxes. 



Spalding All Leather Caddy Bags 

No. PG. Genuine pigskin bag, hfeavy brass ha 
buckle on shoulder strap, brass studs and trimmings, 
leather bottom > . . Each, $10.00 

No. L5H. Stiff leather, best quality, ball pocket and 
sling to match, brass trimmings, leather bottom. Re- 
movable hood for covering clubs while traveling; 
fitted with lock. Will be accepted by railroads as 
baggage Each, $10.00 

No. L4. Imported leather bag, white leather lace trim- 
ming, brass fittings, leather bottom. This is one of 
the most durable bags made. . . . Each, $7.00 

No. L6. Small stiff tan leather bag, snap sling and brass 
trimriiings throughout. Long ball pocket opening top 
and bottom . . Each, $6.00 

No. h3'/2- Grain leather bag, good quality brass trim- 
mings and leather bottom. . Each, $6.00 

Spalding Canvas Caddy Bags — Large Size 

No. WS. White or brown duck bag, either 7 or 8 inches 
•diameter, leather trimmings and white leather lacing, 
reinforcing steel strips, leather covered ; solid leather 
shoulder strap and handle. Patent heavy buckle lock 
and special offset stitched leather bottom. Waterproof 
hood to fasten inside over clubs. . Each $9.00 

No. WR. Similar to WS, but with reeds instead of steel 
strips, and diderent style buckle locL . E,ach, $7.50 

No. WB. Similar to WS, but without reinforcing strips 
and without the white leather lacing. . ELach, $7.00 



Spalding Canvas Caddy Bags 

No. AH. Heavy tan or white canvas bag, 6 inches diam- 
eter, complete with hood; white leather lacing and 
leather trimmings; reinforced strips running lengthwise; 
sole leather bottom, ball pocket and sling. Each, $6.00 

No. Al. Similar to No. AH, but without hood. " 5.00 

No. A2. Similar to No. A I , but without the white leather 
lacing. . . ' Each, $4.00 

No. ex. Good quality canvas, either white or brown, 
leather bottom, large ball pocket ; sling to match. Fur- 
nished in either 5 or 6 inches diameter. Studs on 
bottom. . . . Each, $3.50 

No. C3. Brown or white canvas, leather trimmings, 
handle and sling, reinforced canvas bottom, ball pocket 
to match. Size 6 inches diameter. . . Each, $2.00 

No. C2. Brown or white canvas ; canvas bottom.; ball 
pocket and leather handle and sling. Size 5 inches 
diameter Each, $1.50 

Leather Caddy Bag for Women 

No. WL3.^2. Grain leather bag, good quality, brass 
trimmings and leather bottom. . . Elach, $5.50 

Sunday Caddy Bag 

No. 11. AJl canvas bag, white, with ball pocket and 
heavy web shoulder strap Each, $1.00 

Caddy Bag for Children 

No. 10. Brown canvas, leather trimmings, ball packet 
and sling, canvas covered wood bottom. Each, $1.00 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO 

ANT COMMUNICATIONS 
ADORESSEO TO US 



A.G.SPALDING &, BROS. 

STOFIES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST OF STORES 

SEE INSIDE FRONT COVER 

OF THIS BOOK 



Price* in effect January 5, 1912, Subject to change without notice. For Canaoian price* *ee tpecial Canadian Catalogue 



SKUHE SPALDING 



SPALDING GOLF SHOES 




X 



^ 

^ 



t-* 



HOB NAILS 



No. 88. Fine russet calf, 
low cut; hand made 
throughout. Spliced rub- 
ber sole (new idea), full 
heel and studded leather 
toe. Most up-to-date and 
best golf shoe made. 

Per pair, $8.00 
No. 8. High cut, russet 
calf; English swing last, box 
toe, white oak soles. Heavy 
enough to attach hob nails 
or rubber discs. Pr., $6.00 

No. 6. Low cut, russet calf; 
English swing last, box toe, 
white oak soles. Heavy- 
enough to attach hob nails 
or rubber discs. Pr., $5.00 

No. 3. Indian tanned lea- 
ther, whole vamp Oxford; 
reinforced across instep 
with brown calf. Plain toe, 
no cap. Easiest fitting and 
most comfortable golf shoe 
made. . Per pair, $5.00 

No. 7. Low cut, russet 
leather, heavy white oak 
leather sole and heel fitted 
with special metal blunt 
spikes. . Per pair, $5.00 

No. AB. Made for basket 
ball, but suitable also for 
golf. High cut, with suction 
rubber soles. Light drab 
calf. Laced very low. $5.00 



f No. MK. Iron. . . 
I No. W. Aluminum. 



Dc 



10c. 
15c. 



RUBBER DISCS 

For golf shoes. . . Each, 



7c. 



An application every couple of weeks of SPALDING WATERPROOF OIL will be 
found very beneficial to leather soles of Golf Shoes. Per can, 25 cents. 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO I 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 

ADDRESSED TO US 



A. G.SPALDING &. BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST OF STORES 
SEE INSIDE FRONT COVER 
OF THIS BOOK * 



PcLce? in effect Ja 



19J2. Subject to change without noti< 



For Canadian prices see special Canadian Catalogue 



mMHESRALDING 



Spalding 
Reversible Collar Button Front Sweaters 

U"e allow four inches for stretch in all our szveaters, and sizes are marked 
accordingly. It is suggested, however, that for very heavy men a size about 
two inches larger tha7i coat measurement be ordered to insure a comfortable fit. 

FOR lawn tennis, golf, lacrosse, foot ball, base 
ball, automobiling, training purposes, reducing 
weight, tramping during cold weather, shooting, 
tobogganing, snowshoeing. High collar may 
be turned down quickly, changing into neatest 
form of button front sweater. Sizes, 28 to 44 
inches. Carried in stock in Gray and White only. 
See list below of colors supplied on special orders. 

No. WJP. Highest quality special heavy weight 
worsted, w^ith pockets. 

Each, $8.00 * $90.00 Doz. 

No. WJ. Same as WJP, but without pockets. 

Each, $7.50 * $S1.00 Doz. 

No. WDJ. Fine quality standard weight worsted. 
Same style as WJ, but lighter weight, without 
pockets . . . Each, $6.00 * $63.00 Doz. 




/H^ 



Front View Back View 



Spalding Combined Knitted Muffler 
and Chest Protector 

No. W. Fancy knit; good weight; special quality 
worsted. Stock colors. White or Gray. Each, $1.50 

No. M. Special weight ; highest quality worsted. Stock 
colors. White or Gray Each, $1.00 



SPECIAL ORDERS — In addition to stock colors mentioned, we supply these sweaters without 
extra charge, on special orders only, not carried in stock, in any of the following colors: 
BLACK SCARLET NAVY DARK GREEN 

MAROON CARDINAL COLUMBIA BLUE SEAL BROWN 

N. B. — We designate three shades which are sometimes called RED. They zwe Sc£U-Iet, 
Cardinal, Maroon. Where RED is specified on order we supply Cardinal. 
Plain colors, other than the above, to order only, 50c. each garment extra. 
SPECIAL NOTICE— Solid color sweaters with one color body and another color (not striped) 
collar and cuffs furnished in any of the colors noted, on special order, at no extra charge, 
The prices printed in italics opposite items marked with if vill be quoted only on orders for one- 
half dozen or more. Quantity prices NOT allowed on items NOT marked with if 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO I 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 

ADDRESSEOTOUS 



A. G.SPALDING &. BROS 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST Of STORES 

SEE INSIDE nw COVER 

OF THIS BOOK 



Prices in effect January 5, 1912. Subject to change without notice. For Canadian prices see special Canadian Catalogue 



sSbKe THE SPALDING 



TRADEMARK ■^ffil'v^' 



QUALITY 



SPALDING JACKET SWEATERS 



/m\ 



~^ 



Sizes: 28 to 44 inches chest measurement 

We allov) fotir inches for stretch in all oiir sioeaters, ayid sizes are marked accordingly. It is 
suggested, hoivever, that for very heavy men a size about two inches larger than coat measure- 
ment be ordered to insure a comfortable fit. 

WITH POCKETS 
No. VGP. Best quality worsted, heavy weight, pearl 
buttons. Carried in stock in Gray or White only. 
See list below of colors supplied on special orders. 
With pocket on either side, and a particularly con- 
venient and popular style for s;olf players. 

Each, $6.50 * $69.00 Doz. 

WITHOUT POCKETS 

No. VG. Best quality worsted, heavy weight, pearl 

buttons. Carried in stock in Gray or White only. 

See list below of colors supplied on special orders. 

Each, $6.00 * $63.00 Dos. 

_ No. VK. Special broad knit, good quality worsted. 

No VGP pearl buttons. Carried 

in stock in Gray or 
White only. See list below of colors supplied on 
special orders. . . Each, $5.00 -^ $54.00 Doz. ff 

No. DJ. Fine worsted, standard weight, pearl but- ' \ 

tons, fine knit edging. Carried in stock in Gray or 
White only. See list below of colors supplied on ( 
special orders. . . Each, $5.00 ^ $54.00 Doz. \ 



/v. 



I 



f- 



SHAKER SWEATER 

No. 3J. Standard weight. Shaker knit, pearl buttons. 

Carried in stock and supplied only in Plain Gray. 

Each, $3.50 * $39.00 Doz. 



No. VK 



» SPECIAL ORDERS — In addition to stock colors mentioned, we also supply any of the sweaters 
\ listed on this page (except No. 3 J) without extra charge, on special orders only, not carried in 

stock, in any of the following colors : 

BLACK SCARLET NAVY DARK GREEN 

MAROON CARDINAL COLUMBIA BLUE SEAL BROWN 

\ N. B.— We designate three shades which are sometimes called RED. They are Scarlet, 
- Cardinal, Maroon. Where RED is specified on order, we supply Cardinal. 
) Plain colors, other than above, to order only, 50c. each garment extra. 

SPECIAL NOTICE— Solid color sweaters with one color body and another color (not striped) 

collar and cuffs furnished in any of the colors noted-, on special order, at no extra charge. This 

does not apply to the No. 3J Sweater. 

The prices printed in italics opposite items marked with if ivill be quoted only on orders for one- 
half dozen or more. Quantity prices NOT allowed on iteyns NOT marked with * 



PROMPT ATTENTION GIVEN TO 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 

AOORESSED TO US 



A. G.SPALDING & BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST OF STORES 
SEE INSIDE FRONT COVER 
OF THIS mi 



Prices in effect January 5, 1912. Subject to change without notice. For Canadian price 



special Canadian Catalogue 



JUL 11 1912 

Standard Policy 



A Standard Qyality must be inseparably linked to a Standard Policy. 

Without a definite and Standard Mercantile Policy, it is impossible for a 
Manufacturer to long maintain a Standard Qyality. 

To market his goods through a jobber, a manufacturer must provide a 
profit for the jobber as well as for the retail dealer. To meet these conditions 
of Dual Profits, the manufacturer is obliged to set a proportionately high list 
price on his goods to the consumer. 

To enable the glib salesman, when booking his orders, to figure out 
attractive profits to both the jobber and retailer, these high list prices are 
absolutely essential ; but their real purpose v^rill have been served when the 
manufacturer has secured his order from the jobber, and the jobber has secured 
his order from the retailer. 

However, these deceptive high list prices are not air to the consumer, w^ho 
does not, and, in reality, is not ever expected to pay these fancy list prices. 

When the season opens for the sale of such goods, with their misleading 
but alluring high list prices, the retailer begins to realize his responsibilities, and 
grapples with the situation as best he can, by offering "special discounts," 
which vary with local trade conditions. 

Under this system of merchandising, the profits to both the manufacturer 
and the jobber are assured ; but as there is no stability maintained in the prices 
to the consumer, the keen competition amongst the local dealers invariably 
leads to a demoralized cutting of prices by which the profits of the retailer are 
practically eliminated. 

Tfiis demoralization always reacts on the manufacturer. The jobber insists 
on lower, and still lower, prices. The manufacturer, in his turn, meets this 
demand for the lowering of prices by the only way open to him, viz. : the cheap- 
ening and degrading of the quality of his product. 

The foregoing conditions became so intolerable that, 13 years ago, in 1899, 
A. G. Spalding & Bros, determined to rectify this demoralization in the Athletic 
Goods Trade, aid inaugurated what has since become known as "The Spalding 
Policy." 

The "Spalding Policy" eliminates the jobber entirely, so far as Spalding 
Goods are concerned, and the retail dealer secures the supply of Spalding 
Athletic Goods direct from the manufacturer by which the retail dealer is 
assured a fair, legitimate and certain profit on all Spalding Athletic Goods, and 
the consumer is assured a Standard Qyality and is protected from imposition. 

The "Spalding Policy" is decidedly for the interest and protection of the 
users of Athletic Goods, and acts in two ways : 

First. — The user is assured of genuine Official Standard Athletic Goods 
and the same prices to everybody. 

Seco7id. — As manufacturers, w^e can proceed w^ith confidence in 
purchasing at the proper time, the very best rawr materials required 
in the manufacture of our various goods, well ahead of their 
respective seasons, and this enables us to provide the necesssary 
quantity and absolutely maintain the Spalding Standard of Quality. 

All retail dealers handling Spalding Athletic Goods are requested to supply 
consumers at our regular printed catalogue prices — neithermore nor le&s — thesame 
prices that similar goods are sold for in our Nev^r York, Chicago and other stores. 

All Spalding dealers, as well as users of Spalding Athletic Goods, are treated 
exactly alike and no special rebates or discriminations are allowed to anyone. 

This briefly is the "Spalding Policy," which has already been in successful 
operation for the past 13 years, and w^ill be indefinitely continued. 

In other words, " The Spalding Policy " is a " square deal " for everybody. 

A. G. SPALDING & BROS. 



By 



J 



standard Quality 



An article that is universally given the appellation "Standard" is thereby 
conceded to be the criterion, to which are compared all other things of a similar 
nature. For instance, the Gold Dollar of tlie United States is the Standard unit 
of currency, because it must legally contain a specific proportion of pure gold, 
and the fact of its being Genuine is guaranteed by the Government Stamp 
thereon. As a protection to the users of this currency against counterfeiting and 
other tricks, considerable money is expended in maintaining a Secret Service 
Bureau of Elxperts. Under the law, citizen manufacturers must depend to a 
♦^eat extent upon Trade-Marks and similar devices to protect themselves stgainst 
count::rfeit products — without the aid of "Government Detectives" or "Public 
Opinion " to assist them. 

Consequently the "Consumer's Protection" against misrepresentation and 
"inferior quality" rests entirely upon the integrity and responsibility of the 
"Manufacturer." 

A. G. Spalding & Bros, have, by their rigorous attention to " Quality." for 
thirty-four years, caused their Trade-Mark to become known throughout 
the world as a Guarantee of Qyality as dependable in their field as the 
U. S. Currency is in its field. 

The necessity of upholding the Guarantee of the Spalding Trade-Mark and 
maintaining the Standard Qyality of their Athletic Goods, is. therefore, as obvi- 
ous as is the necessity of the Government in maintaining a Standard Currency. 

Thus each consumer is not only insuring himself but also protecting other 
consumers when he assists a Rehable Manufacturer in upholding his Trade- 
Mark and all that it stands for. Therefore, we urge all users of our Athletic 
Goods to assist us in maintaining the Spalding Standard of Excellence, by 
insisting that our Trade-Mark be plainly stamped on all athletic goods which 
they buy, because without this precaution our best efforts towards maintaining 
Standard Qyality and preventing fraudulent substitution will be ineffectual. 

Manufacturers of Standard Articles invariably suffer the reputation of being 
high-priced, and this sentiment is fostered and emphasized by makers of 
" inferior goods,!' with whom low prices are the main consideration. 

A manufacturer of recognized Standard Goods, with a reputation to uphold 
and a guarantee to protect, must necessa.ily have higher prices than a manufac- 
turer of cheap goods, whose idea of and basis of a claim for Standard Quality 
depends principally upon the eloquence of the salesman. 

We know from experience that there is no quicksand more unstable than 
in quality — and we avoid this quicksand by Standard Quality. 



v^^<;^^^^.<^*^^ .^4/:^U< 



ATnTFTTr TTTTr'^^Kgairi, 



A separaite book covers every Athletic Sport 

and is Official and Standard 

Price 10 cents each 



GRAND PRIZE 






GRAND PRIX 




PARIS, 1900 



sT.Loms,i904 Spalding paris,i9oo 

ATHLETIC GOODS 

ARE THE QTANDARD OF THE WORLD 



A.G Spalding ® Bros. 

'maintain wholesale and RETAIL STORES /n the FOLLOWING CITIES; 
NEW YORK CHICAGO ST. LOUIS 

BOSTON MILWAUKEE KAN3AS CITY 

PHILADELPHIA DETROIT SAN FRANCISCI 

NEWARK CINCINNATI LOS ANGELl 

BUFFALO CLEVELAND SEATTLE 

SYRACUSE COLUMBUS MINNEAPOLI 

BALTIMORE INDIANAPOLIS ST. PAUL 

WASHINGTON PITTSBURG DENyEI 

LONDON, ENGLAND ATLANTA DALLAS 

BIRMINGHAM. ENGLAND LOUISVILLE 

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND NEW ORLEANS .^ 

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND MONTREAL, CANAT 

SYDNEY. AUSTRALIA TORONTO, CANADA 

Fartnries owr>:d and operated by A.C.$ paldlno & B ros . and w here ell of Spatd,n_p. 



|VEW¥ORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISC© CTOCOPEE, BIASS- 
toROOKLYM BOSTON f HIIAPIXPHIA JLONPON. ENGw 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




006 010 933 3 ^ 



